Earlier this month, at the Visual-Centric Teaching and Learning (VCTL) Symposium, students with hearing impairments were able to try out the Epic holographic display by hologram specialists Proto. In a demonstration, Gallaudet University President Roberta J. Cordano was ‘beamed’ into the holographic display to chat and interact with students using American Sign Language (ASL).
The Epic unit measures .29 x 4.5 x 2.3-ft, and features AI-powered cameras, speakers, and microphones, as well as a touch-sensitive viewing window. Proto’s proprietary technology provides the moving image displayed on the viewing window a sense of depth and realism, and these aspects were key in providing a more comfortable method to virtually communicate via ASL. The extra sense of dimension makes communicating much easier than it would be through a traditional flat screen video call.
See also: H&M installs hologram displays courtesy of Proto
In addition to Cordano, students and other staff members were able try being ‘beamed’ into the Epic Display. After trying it out, the university’s Chief Bilingual Officer said, “This is a dream come true for me personally and for the deaf community. For so long, we have been eager to utilize ASL and English bilingualism through hologram technology, which allows us to fully express ourselves in ASL, a spatial language.”
