Communication Supporting System in a Classroom Environment for the Hearing Impaired.

In this paper, we propose a communication support system in a classroom environment for the hearing impaired. This system detects the questioner, monitors his/her sign language with a video camera, and displays the video on a monitor at the front of the lecture room. Although other students cannot see the questioner's sign language directly, they can see the questioner on the monitor. The system locates the questioner by detecting a raised hand. Once the system locates the questioner, it zooms in by controlling the direction and the zoom parameters of the camera and captures his/her image. We implemented the system and conducted an experiment during a real lecture. As a result, we achieved a raised hand extraction rate of 70%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]