Microsoft Teams Adds Sign Language View for Meetings

Microsoft Teams now has a new sign language view for meetings. The new accessibility feature will allow people who are deaf or hard of hearing, interpreters, or other meeting participants using sign language to remain visible throughout every meeting.

The new sign language view for Teams meetings will be able to display interpreters’ and other signers’ video feeds in an area that’s big enough for sign language to be visible. Enabling the sign language view is personal, which means enabling it won’t affect other meeting participants.

“With sign language view turned on, the video feeds of the individuals you have designated stay visible on center stage as long as their video is on. Other participants can also be pinned or spotlighted without encroaching on the sign language interpreter,” Microsoft explained.

Before the sign language view was available, meeting organizers had to manually pin interpreters and turn on captions for every meeting. The new sign language view greatly simplifies this experience, and meeting organizers can also pick up preferred signers to highlight in all meetings.

Sign language view is currently available in public preview in Teams, and Microsoft expects to make it available for all desktop users in the coming weeks. “These features are just the beginning – one step along a much longer road,” Microsoft also said in the announcement.