Differential Signing Rate

The degree to which the speed of individual signs varies throughout a sign language passage, reflecting natural speed-ups and slow-downs driven by linguistic context. In human signing, certain words may be performed more quickly (such as repeated words) while others are slowed for emphasis or at phrase boundaries. In sign language animation, differential signing rate is represented as an exponential factor applied to each sign's speed. Research has found that DHH users prefer less extreme variation in animated signing than occurs in human signing, likely because current animation technology can appear unnatural when rendering rapid speed changes.