Mobile app with standardised medical sign language lifts health literacy

In Thailand, people with hearing loss report ongoing barriers during clinical encounters, linked to low health literacy caused by a lack of standardized medical sign language and by regional sign dialects. A new multi-region study tested a distributive policy framework built around a standardized medical sign language vocabulary and the MU-silentcare mobile app. Using a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design across seven regions, researchers first interviewed and held focus groups with 138 stakeholders (including people with lived experience). Next, they surveyed 421 participants with a needs-assessment questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha 0.92; IOC 0.8), identifying healthcare access and digital innovation as top priorities. A 14-day MU-silentcare workshop improved all five self-reported health-literacy dimensions in pre-post testing (t(452) = -30.42, p < 0.001).