Sign Language View

In collaboration with the Deaf and hard of hearing community, Microsoft is rolling out a new feature for Teams Meetings - Sign Language View. This new feature helps prioritize interpreters and other sign language users during the meeting. Participants can add specific sign language users within the organization, such as regular interpreters, to a prioritized signer list under Settings > Accessibility in the Teams app. Sign Language View keeps the signers in a central location with higher video quality and unaffected by the dynamic placement of other videos. It simplifies the meeting process and keeps the signers visible even when content is shared. This feature is presently available only on Teams Desktop and is a personal, user-level setting, which means it will not be shown to other meeting participants.

The rollout will begin in early November and is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 99452. End-users will see a new option "Sign Language" in the More menu and a new Accessibility pane in the main Settings menu. They can turn on Sign Language View and set captioning to appear across all meetings. Within the Accessibility settings pane, users can also prioritize specific internal organizational sign language users or interpreters they work with regularly. The feature will be rolled out in stages, starting from early November and expected to be complete by mid-December.

This new feature from Microsoft in collaboration with the Deaf and hard of hearing community shows a commitment to making Teams Meetings accessible to all.

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