Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
125 results found in deaf and hard of hearing.
- Sound Recognition (Sound Classification, Audio Event Detection, Environmental Sound Recognition)
- Technology that automatically identifies and classifies sounds in a user's environment, typically using machine learning models trained on audio datasets. In accessibility contexts, sound recognition …
- Sound awareness (Sound recognition, Environmental sound detection)
- Technology that detects and identifies sounds in the user's environment and conveys that information through alternative modalities such as visual notifications or haptic alerts. For deaf and hard-of-…
- Speaker Identification (Speaker ID, Speaker Attribution)
- Methods used in captions and subtitles to indicate which person is currently speaking, enabling viewers to follow conversations among multiple participants. Common in-text speaker identification techn…
- Speech Reading (Lip Reading, Lipreading, Visual Speech Perception)
- The practice of understanding speech by visually interpreting a speaker's lip movements, facial expressions, gestures, and body language. Speech reading is used by many Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing indivi…
- Speech-Reading (Lip-Reading, Lipreading, Visual Speech Perception)
- The practice of understanding spoken language by visually interpreting the movements of the lips, face, tongue, and jaw of the speaker, along with contextual cues such as facial expressions and body l…
- Speechreading (Lipreading, Lip Reading)
- A communication method that relies on observing visual and contextual cues, primarily the movements of a speakers lips, face, and body, to understand spoken language. Speechreading is used by many d/D…
- Stenographer (Stenocaptioner, Court Reporter)
- A trained professional who produces real-time verbatim transcription of speech, typically using a stenotype machine that maps chorded key combinations to phonetic syllables. In accessibility contexts,…
- Subtitles
- Text displayed on screen that represents the spoken language in audio-visual content, primarily intended for viewers who do not understand the language being spoken. While often used interchangeably w…
- Survey Accessibility (Accessible Surveys, Inclusive Survey Design)
- The practice of designing surveys, questionnaires, and assessment tools so they can be completed by people with diverse abilities, languages, and communication preferences. Survey accessibility encomp…
- TTY (TDD, Telecommunications Device for the Deaf, Text Telephone, Teletypewriter, Teletype)
- A text-based telecommunications device that enables people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have speech disabilities to communicate over telephone lines by typing messages that are displayed on a scr…
- Telecommunication equity (Communication equity, Functional equivalence)
- The principle that people with disabilities should have access to telecommunications services that are functionally equivalent to those available to people without disabilities. For deaf users, this m…
- Tonal Language (Tone Language)
- A language in which pitch variations at the word or syllable level distinguish meaning, so that the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have entirely different meanings depending on the tone us…
- Tracked Captions (Speaker-following captions, Dynamic captions)
- Captions that move dynamically within the video frame to stay near the current speaker's face or mouth, rather than remaining anchored at a fixed position (typically the bottom of the video). Tracked …
- Transcription (Speech-to-Text Transcription, Real-Time Transcription)
- The process of converting spoken language into written text, either in real time or after the fact. In accessibility contexts, transcription services provide communication access for deaf and hard of …
- Typographic Encoding (Visual Typography Mapping)
- The practice of using typographic properties—such as font size, weight, color, spacing, opacity, and baseline shift—to encode non-textual information within written content. In accessibility contexts,…
- Video Relay Service (VRS)
- A free, subscriber-based telecommunications service regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States that enables deaf individuals who use sign language to make phone call…
- Video Remote Interpreting (VRI)
- A fee-based service that provides sign language interpretation via video conferencing technology, where the interpreter is located remotely rather than physically present with the deaf and hearing par…
- Video intelligibility (Signal intelligibility, Visual signal clarity)
- The degree to which a video signal can be perceived and understood by the viewer, determined by technical parameters including frame rate, bit rate, spatial resolution, and codec quality. Video intell…
- Video relay service (VRS)
- A telecommunications service that enables deaf and hard-of-hearing sign language users to communicate with hearing people via telephone through a video link with a sign language interpreter. The deaf …
- Visual Attention Split (Split Attention, Divided Visual Attention)
- The cognitive challenge of needing to divide visual focus between two or more sources of information simultaneously. For deaf and hard of hearing people, visual attention split is a pervasive accessib…