A groundbreaking invention by two undergraduate students has been making waves with the American Sign Language community, for its ability to give the hearing- and speech-impaired a voice.
The “SignAloud” which looks like the typical set of gloves, was created by University of Washington sophomores, Thomas Pryor and Navid Azodi.
In a 1-minute and 50-second clip uploaded on video sharing site, Youtube, the pair showcased their device, which instantaneously translated sign language into audible verbal sounds.
“Access to communication is a basic fundamental human right, and every single person deserves to be part of the global community,” said Azodi in the video. “However, those who are deaf or mute communicate differently than everyone else. They primarily use sign language while the rest of the world communicates verbally. This puts the deaf and mute community at a disadvantage.”
Pryor also described that the gloves measure hand position and movement through sensitive sensors in the user’s hand and wrist area.
The gloves then send this data to the computer via bluetooth for processing.
Once the computer recognizes and interprets the sign, it outputs a corresponding word or phrase in the form of text and speech.
“Currently, there is no commercial sign language translator on the market,” Pryor said. “With this invention, over 70 million people achieve a new level of independence.”
Reports from U.S.-based ABC news revealed that the students’ prototype went on to win a $10,000 (PHP 469,245) prize from the Lemelson-MIT program, which celebrates outstanding inventors. Khristian Ibarrola