Hospital

Context

In France, 7 million people are affected by hearing loss, including 500,000 with profound or severe deafness; around 100,000 people speak French Sign Language (Fondation pour l'Audition / DREES; French Ministry of Culture). Over the past five years, 23% of users have given up on at least one right when dealing with public services, with people with disabilities disproportionately affected (Défenseur des droits, October 2025). France has only 26 dedicated reception and care units for deaf patients (UASS), for around 3,000 healthcare facilities. Even under good conditions, a deaf person can only clearly decipher 30% of a message through lip-reading (Dr Vincent Gautier, emergency physician, president of the French Society of Health in Sign Language). Written language is also a second language for a large part of the deaf signing population, making it an unreliable fallback channel in a care context.

Legal framework

The law of 11 February 2005 recognises French Sign Language as a language in its own right. The 2016 French Digital Republic Act imposes a telephone accessibility requirement, extended to companies with over €250 million in revenue. The ordinance of 6 September 2023 provides for fines of up to €75,000 for an individual and 1% of revenue for a legal entity in case of non-compliance. From 1 October 2026, the accessibility requirement will cover 100% of public reception hours, up from 50% today.

Use case

A deaf or signing patient is seen in the emergency room or at a consultation. The caregiver and the patient each speak their own language; translation happens in real time on their own devices, enabling care without waiting for a physical interpreter, with local processing of the exchange.

Architecture

V1 (prototype)

A catalogue of words and phrases specific to common medical vocabulary (reception, emergency care, consultation), developed with industry professionals and people fluent in sign language.

V2 (target)

Progressive extension of the catalogue to medical specialties, interoperable with the generic catalogue of the consumer app.

Patents involved

• Multilingual translation
• Sign language recognition

Indicators

• Medical catalogue words and phrases covered — 80 words and 60 phrases in V1, extended to 200 phrases for commercial deployment
• Pilot departments equipped — to be defined with the funder

Estimated budget

€150,000 for the complete development of the hospital sector catalogue. Funding for a sector-specific prototype can be carried by a single institution or pooled among several institutions within the same network.

Funder profile sought

A healthcare facility, hospital group or institutional funder wishing to fund the development of the hospital sector catalogue in exchange for visibility and priority access to the prototype.