Studies in Europe and USA show that around 10-15% of the population are either deaf or hard-of-hearing. Although both deaf and hard-of-hearing people face barriers to accessing spoken language, they form separate groups with different perspectives and priorities.  Those who are hard of hearing use a spoken language as their preferred, or first language.  Those who identify as deaf often use a signed language, as their preferred, first language.  Both groups require access to the information contained in spoken messages, however, those who identify as deaf also require advanced access to written forms of spoken language.Information and communication technology (ICT) has the potential to support, for example, transcription from speech to text, captioning, learning to lipread, and (more visionary) translation from spoken language to sign language. Further, avatar-based translation systems, used on 2D screens or in Extended Reality environments, have the potential for enhancing communication and collaboration for those whose preferred language is signed, and for whom a spoken language, albeit in written form, is a second language.The Special Thematic Session (STS) invites contribution on all aspects of the accessibility, usability, and intelligence of ICT-based systems and applications that make written, spoken language, information, and communication more accessible, including:

• User-controlled systems for language accessibility in the context of deaf and hard-of-hearing persons.
• Multimodal integration of information with language accessibility in the context of deaf and hard-of-hearing persons.
• Teaching tools for second-language learners in the context of deaf and hard-of-hearing persons.
• Deep learning for language accessibility in the context of deaf and hard-of-hearing persons
• Using Extended Reality (Mixed Reality, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality) for language accessibility in the context of deaf and hard-of-hearing persons.
• Universal and graphical design of user interfaces, web sites and digital products for language accessibility in the context of deaf and hard-of-hearing persons.
• Evaluation methodologies for the quality of language accessibility in the context of deaf and hard-of-hearing persons.

Chairs

• 
  Raja Kushalnagar, Gallaudet University
• 
  Sarah Ebling, University of Zürich
• 
  Matjaž Debevc, AccessibleEU Slovenia