Microsoft Teams Prioritizes People Who Use Sign Language

Examine the specifics of Microsoft has released new feature for Teams sign language users

Microsoft has announced a feature for its Teams business meeting platform that will allow users to prioritize videos of up to two signers - people who use sign language - so that the prioritized video streams appear in the center of the screen, at the correct aspect ratio, and the highest available quality.

How does the Sign Language View function?

1.According to the US tech behemoth, you can enable Sign Language View during a meeting or set it as the default for all meetings. To enable it, open Teams, go to Settings and more > Settings > Accessibility, then enable Sign Language.

2.The video of the designated signer must be turned on for the feature to function. Furthermore, when Sign Language View is enabled, other participants are not notified and their screen remains unaltered.

3.When someone in the meeting shares a piece of content, the designated video stream moves to a different part of the screen but remains larger, more visible, and of higher quality.

4.f you work with the same sign language interpreters in your organization daily, you can add them to the 'Accessibility' tab so that they always appear in the feature's list of signers. A meeting can also include an interpreter from outside the organization.

5.Users can designate a signer for everyone and assign interpreters before or during a meeting.

If you have hearing problems, it is now much easier to participate in a Microsoft Teams meeting. Microsoft has introduced a sign language view that allows deaf or hard-of-hearing people, as well as their interpreters, to prioritize each other during meetings. That video feeds will remain in the same places, at sizes large enough to see sign language. Throughout a meeting, you may see up to two additional signers, and the video will remain large even when slides or screen shares are visible. According to Microsoft, the view also makes preferences "sticky" thanks to a new accessibility settings pane. Every time a Teams call begins, you won't have to worry about pinning interpreters or enabling captions. Instead of mulling over options, you can jump right into a meeting.

The sign language view and accessibility pane are currently only available via a user-by-user Public Preview. According to Microsoft, they will be available to all commercial and government customers in the "coming weeks." It may take some time for everyone to be able to use the functionality. Nonetheless, this promises to greatly simplify meetings for anyone with limited hearing and may make Teams more viable if alternatives like Zoom (which only recently added interpreter support) aren't up to the task.