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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
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    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Research in Progress (RIP)</title>
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    <item>
      <title>Improving Communication Accessibility for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Transit Riders</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2636144</link>
      <description><![CDATA[BACKGROUND

Public transportation agencies have made substantial progress in improving physical accessibility through investments in infrastructure, vehicle design, and wayfinding. Considerably less attention has been given to communication accessibility for riders who are deaf or hard of hearing, particularly during dynamic or unexpected travel conditions. Accessibility research has focused primarily on mobility and navigation, leaving transit agencies with limited guidance on effective communication strategies and technologies to support accessibility for individuals with hearing disabilities.

Advances in communication technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), real-time captioning, digital signage, mobile applications, assistive listening systems, video remote interpreting, and multimodal communication platforms, offer opportunities to improve accessible communication throughout the transit experience. Although many of these technologies are commercially available or being piloted by transit agencies, little is known about their operational readiness, effectiveness, scalability, customer acceptance, workforce implications, lifecycle costs, or integration with existing transit systems. Research is needed to evaluate communication technologies and their interaction with users, assess their applicability to public transportation environments, and develop guidance to help agencies implement accessible communication strategies that meet the needs of riders who are deaf or hard of hearing while benefiting a broad range of transit customers.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this research is to develop a decision-making framework and toolkit that enable public transportation agencies to identify, evaluate, select, deploy, and assess communication technologies and strategies that improve accessibility for riders who are deaf or hard of hearing and people who benefit from nonaudible communication.

RESEARCH PLAN

The TCRP is seeking proposals on how best to achieve the research objective. Proposers are expected to describe research plans that can realistically be accomplished within the constraints of available funds and subaward time. Proposals must present the proposers' current thinking in sufficient detail to demonstrate their understanding of the issues and the soundness of their approach to meeting the research objective.

The research team shall, at a minimum:

Review relevant research, federal regulations, guidance, standards, and current practices related to accessible communication.
Assess communication barriers encountered throughout the transit experience; and document the perspectives and technology needs of riders who are deaf or hard of hearing, transit personnel, and other populations who benefit from nonaudible communication.
Identify unmet communication needs, implementation barriers, and opportunities to leverage technology to improve communication accessibility.
Engage stakeholders, including riders who are deaf or hard of hearing, organizations serving the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, transit agency accessibility advisory committees, customer service personnel, other populations who benefit from nonaudible communication, and technology providers.
Conduct a cost-benefit analysis of existing and emerging communication technologies, including real-time and dynamic methods, to identify effective practices and develop performance measures and customer service metrics to evaluate communication accessibility.
Identify potential funding sources and implementation pathways to support the deployment of accessible communication technologies.
Develop recommendations for implementing emerging communication technologies, including innovative procurement and deployment strategies to improve accessible communication for riders who are deaf or hard of hearing.
The research plan shall describe appropriate deliverables (which also represent key project milestones), including:

An amplified research plan that addresses comments from the project panel at the subawardee selection meeting.
An interim report and panel meeting. The interim report should include the analyses and results of completed tasks, a plan for the remaining tasks, and a detailed outline of the final research product(s). The interim report should be submitted and the panel meeting should occur after the expenditure of 40 to 50 percent of the project budget.
Final deliverables should include:
Decision-making framework and toolkit to help public transportation agencies evaluate, select, deploy, and assess accessible communication technologies, including technology evaluation criteria, implementation considerations, procurement guidance, performance measures, and funding resources.
Conduct of research report documenting the full scope of the research.
Technical memorandum titled “Implementation of Research Findings and Products” (see item IV of the Important section).
Presentation slide deck summarizing the research findings, recommendations, and implementation considerations for use in webinars and other technology-transfer activities.
Note: Following receipt of the draft final deliverables, the remaining 3 months shall be for TCRP review and comment and for the research agency preparation of the final deliverables.

< < < IMPORTANT > > >

I. The brochure Information and Instructions for Preparing Proposals for the Transportation Research Board’s Cooperative Research Programs includes extensive guidance on the preparation of acceptable proposals for submission to CRP. Revisions to these instructions are highlighted in yellow within that document.

II. Proposals will be rejected if any of the proposed research team members work for organizations represented on the project panel. The panel roster for this project can be found here. Proposers may not contact panel members directly; this roster is provided solely for the purpose of avoiding potential conflicts of interest.

III. The text of the final deliverable is expected to be publication ready when it is submitted. It is strongly recommended that the research team include the expertise of a technical editor as early in the project timeline as possible. See Appendix F of the Procedural Manual for Subawardees Conducting Research in the Transportation Research Board’s Cooperative Research Program for technical editing standards expected in final deliverables.

IV. The required technical memorandum titled “Implementation of Research Findings and Products” should (a) provide recommendations on how to best put the research findings/products into practice; (b) identify possible institutions that might take leadership in applying the research findings/products; (c) identify issues affecting potential implementation of the findings/products and recommend possible actions to address these issues; and (d) recommend methods of identifying and measuring the impacts associated with implementation of the findings/products. Implementation of these recommendations is not part of the research project and, if warranted, details of these actions will be developed and implemented in future efforts.

V. The National Academies have an ethical and legal obligation to provide proper attribution whenever material from other sources is included in its reports, online postings, and other publications and products. TRB will review all Cooperative Research Programs draft final deliverables using the software iThenticate for potential plagiarism. If plagiarized text appears in the draft final deliverable, the research team will be required to make revisions and the opportunity to submit future proposals may be affected.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 08 Dec 2025 19:52:37 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2636144</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Investigating the Safety of Commercial Motor Vehicle Operation by Deaf and Hard of Hearing Drivers</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2077931</link>
      <description><![CDATA[A study titled “Preliminary Analysis of Roadway Accident Rates for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Drivers — Forensic Engineering Application” published in the June 2016 Journal of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers should be evaluated as part of this research.  Data analysis in that study indicates that deaf and hard-of-hearing drivers are one and a half to nine times as likely to be seriously injured or killed in a motor vehicle accident. Motor vehicle accident records suggest that deaf and hard-of-hearing drivers are approximately three times as likely to be involved in a motor vehicle accident as hearing drivers.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 06 Dec 2022 09:48:30 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2077931</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Deaf and Hard‐of‐Hearing Drivers: Making the Highways Safer for Everyone</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1420903</link>
      <description><![CDATA[One of the primary goals of the United States Department of Transportation is to make the U.S. transportation system the safest in the world. In order to fulfill this goal it is important to understand how to improve highway safety for all users – including those users that may have different sensory inputs than the general population. In fact, some highway users belong to groups with special needs that have not been studied previously. The purpose of this proposed research is to initiate the creation of a body of knowledge regarding deaf and hard of hearing drivers.
Recent preliminary data mining has revealed that deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) drivers are nearly three times more likely to be involved in motor vehicle accidents (MVA) and 1.5 to 9 times more likely to have serious injuries or die as a result of an MVA.
In order to improve multi-modal transportation safety one needs to fully understand the mechanisms and situations causing the increased risk in the D/HH driving community. Once these areas are understood, technologies and educational programs can be developed to mitigate the risk. Unfortunately, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) very little or no research has been conducted in this specific area anywhere on this  planet. The Rochester Institute of Technology and National Technical Institute for the Deaf comprise a team that is uniquely qualified to perform this much needed research.
In this age of rapid development of self-driving cars it will eventually be important to understand if the deaf may comprise a unique community that would be significantly aided by this advanced technology. Given that the primary form of communication of the deaf is visual, and driving has been found to require over 90% visual input it would be logical to conclude that if the deaf are communicating while driving not all of their visual awareness is being applied to the driving task. Deaf drivers could be found to be a succinct group perhaps with the most to gain by using crash-avoidance and self-driving car technology since it would fill in the gaps in visual attentional to the highway environment.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 25 Aug 2016 15:51:11 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1420903</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Conditions that Influence Drivers' Yielding Behavior at Uncontrolled Crossings and Intersections with Traffic Signal Controls</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1318417</link>
      <description><![CDATA[There is a dearth of studies on how pedestrian who are blind might positively influence driver yielding in different travel situations.  This project assessed common pedestrian behaviors (head turning, holding a cane, taking a step, holding up a hand, exaggerated cane movement, standing without a cane) on yielding rate for right turning traffic at lighted intersections as well as at entry and exit lanes at roundabouts.  Data replicated previous findings on yielding rates for displaying a cane (about 60%), holding up a hand (65% to 80%), or taking one step into the roadway (80% to 100%) and also showed that head and gaze related behaviors do not increase yielding.  In some cases, adding a head turn or gaze behavior decreases yielding rates.  At the roundabout, yielding rates at exit lanes were always lower than at the entry lanes or the light controlled intersection.  The outcomes have implications for O&M instruction.  O&M students who benefit from a forward-facing head position to align at a crossing, or to remain aligned during a crossing, do not need to be concerned that a lack of head movement and face gaze will cause drivers to yield less often.  Other students who must turn their heads to visually monitor potential threats from turning vehicles, likewise, need not be apprehensive that their head movements or gazing will likely reduce the drivers’ yielding.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 06 Aug 2014 01:01:06 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1318417</guid>
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