Picture this. You walk into a shop in search of something in particular. You cannot speak and the shop owner does not understand sign language. What do you do?
Roy Allela designed Sign-IO gloves to bridge the communication gap between those who are deaf and those who cannot understand sign language. This gap affects millions of individuals around the world in a multitude of ways.
The gloves work via sensors on each finger which detect the hand’s movements. Accuracy is important so that the movements properly translate to text. This means the gloves are also a great tool for those who are attempting to learn sign language themselves. They connect via Bluetooth to a phone and text-to-speech technology translate the sign language into audio.
“My niece wears the gloves, pairs them with her phone or mine, then starts signing. I’m able to understand what she’s saying,” Allela told CE.
“People speak at different speeds and it’s the same with people who sign: some are really fast, others are slow, so we integrated that into the mobile application so that it’s comfortable for anyone to use it.”
You can learn more about Allela’s invention here.
