SmartVP: video phone for the deaf launches in Pa.

A free video phone that lets the deaf communicate with sign language recently launched in Pennsylvania.

Built by a Sacramento area company called Purple, the SmartVP is a video phone that’s mounted on a television. Deaf individuals can sign directly to each other, and the SmartVP also offers American Sign Language translators so that deaf individuals can communicate with hearing people.

Apply for a free SmartVP here.

The phone originally launched in California in April has since expanded to six other states. The Germantown-based Pennsylvania School for the Deaf is the third-oldest school for the deaf in the country and made Pennsylvania a natural place to expand, a spokesman said.