Communication tool design for Deaf to Hearing in South Africa

Abstract

“Deaf” with a capital “D” refers to a group of people who are deaf and rely mainly on sign language to communicate. Most Deaf people in South Africa are functionally illiterate. They claimed that they are in need of a practical tool, which would help them to communicate better with hearing people, especially in the healthcare context. Following this claim, the iteration research team has been trying to find a practical way to deliver effective communication for Deaf people in South Africa. In the current project, the research team decided to design a communication tool for a simpler dialogue tree in the pharmacy context. As part of the team, the author combined “Vision in Product Design” and “Human Centered Design” to design feasible communication tools for the pharmacy context. Interview, storyboard, and role play were a few of the main techniques used to unfold the users’ needs and wishes. The investigation revealed that Deaf patients clearly need to understand their medication requirements from the moment it is prescribed by the doctor until the time the medicine is dispensed by the pharmacist. As Deaf people commonly use mobile phones, the communication aid named, “SignSupport v3” was designed to be stored on the phone and it will serve as a portable interpreter when the Deaf patient communicates with healthcare practitioners independently. The researcher made recommendations about the properties required to make a mobile phone an ideal tool for Deaf people in communication. Other recommendations concerning certain features, which will enhance the performance of the SignSupportv3, were also made. A message and queue notifying system was also proposed to prevent Deaf patients from missing their turns in public hospitals, as this was one of their main complaints. The evaluation of the efficiency of SignSupport v3, as stated by the Deaf people and the pharmacist, in assisting pharmaceutical communication was satisfactory. All the message outputs of the SignSupport v3 were clearly understood by the Deaf participants and they were happy to test such a product. However, there are some aspects of the product, which can be improved and some further research should be done before the communication tools will be ready to be launched.