Developing a New S wiss Research Centre for Barrier-Free Communication (2018)

Abstract: The project ‘Proposal and Implementation of a Swiss Research Centre for Barrier-free Communication’ (BFC) is a four-year project (2017–2020) funded by the Rectors' Conference of Swiss Higher Education Institutions (swissuniversities).1 Its purpose is to ensure that individuals with a visual or hearing disability, people with a temporary cognitive impairment and speakers without sufficient knowledge of local languages can communicate and enjoy barrier-free access to information in all spheres of life, with a special focus on higher education.

## babeldr: a speech to sign translation system for anamnesis today, hospitals have to increasingly deal with patients who have no language in common with the staff. babeldr (babeldr.unige.ch) was elaborated to specifically address this issue. the system can be characterized as a flexible speech-enabled fixed-phrase translator @xcite . the set of sentences are limited, but the user can speak freely, which improves usability. as in a translation memory, the system will map the doctor's question to the closest match, using different matching techniques. the key features are: (i) security (data are stored locally), (ii) reliability (translations have been done by humans or interpreters with an on-line platform), and (iii) flexibility (source content and translations can be easily added, in different formats, written or oral/aural). the actual sign language version was developed for lsf-ch (swiss-french sign language) in collaboration with a deaf nurse and a professional hearing sign language interpreter in professional conditions. babeldr will be tested in real settings at hug in the summer. the existing version for spoken languages contains 7 domains which cover the most frequent health issues, with around 3500 sentences per domain.