Visually challenging conditions on sign language intelligibility show behavioural analogies with spoken language
Cristina Tobías Figuerola, Carine Signoret, Emil Holmer, Josefine Andin · 2026
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Description
Cristina Tobías Figuerola and colleagues published a 2026 study on how hard visual conditions affect understanding of sign language. They used Swedish Sign Language and blurred the signs in two ways: pixelation and speckled noise. The question was whether sign reading under strain behaves like speech heard in noise.
Twenty-nine fluent signers watched 100 single signs at five levels of damage for each blur type. Both types cut understanding and raised felt difficulty. Accuracy leveled off near 70 percent, much like speech-in-noise findings. Signs that were read right felt easier. The link between difficulty and accuracy differed by blur type, which hints at distinct mental routes. The authors call for more work on what shapes sign reading in poor conditions.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Cristina Tobías Figuerola, Carine Signoret, Emil Holmer, Josefine Andin |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 47425 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |