Sign Language to Speech
A
large barrier that we face in our world today is the barrier of language. To
communicate with a person from another culture who speaks another language is
trying for both parties. Now, put a man or women with a disability that permits
them from being able to speak or listen properly. Unfortunately, that barrier
is a reality for many people in our world. Thankfully, we have people in our
world who are dedicated to helping these people with disabilities. Hadeel Ayoub
is a student at the University of London, and he has built a prototype smart
glove that will translate sign language into speech. This glove has the ability
to take sign language and display it as text or produce dialogue.
The
first thing to think about when a thing like this emerges is the practicality
of it. Although it offers a great service, is it something that would be
impractical in everyday life? That is the importance of building something like
this, with such big potential. People wont want to wear a 10-pound glove around
all day. Hadeel notes this as he says, “People tend to lean to the cautious side when approached with
new high-tech products which contradicts the main purpose of this glove, which
is to help make lives easier.” (Hadeel). By doing this, Hadeel is trying to
continue to make the glove better by making a lighter version for kids, and
overall compatibility to all users.
This is a
Segway to my next point about compatibility. In this day in age, a big portion
of why people buy the products they do. I continue to buy Apple products
because my music is linked through Apple and all my friends have Apple devices.
Life is just easier with things work together. Hadeel understands this fully.
Charlie Osborne, the author of the article, comments on this by saying, “Hadeel
is now working on a version of the device that will include an accompanying
smartphone application, which will receive the glove's output through Wi-Fi.”
(Osborne). On top of this Hadeel is hoping to go one step further with his
invention as he is attempting to create it so the glove will “allow for
real-time translation in multiple languages” (Osborne).
Hadeel
Ayoub has his hands on something beautiful that has the capability of affecting
millions around the world in a positive way. Something that wasn’t really
mentioned in the article was his plans for production in the future, and the
importance of signing on with a large company. Osborne touches on this subject
by mentioning the price of buying the prototype, however the information should
go further than that. These types of products are so vital to our society that
this young man should be set up with a company that will properly handle the
mass production of it. All in all, this was a great piece, and shows great hope
for the future.
Bibliography
Osborne, Charlie. "Student's Smart
Glove Converts Sign Language into Text and Speech - CNET." CNET. CNET, 1 Oct. 2015. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.
Hadeel Ayoub’s invention is truly innovative and gives hope to an exciting future regarding global communication. The use of IT in this creation is remarkable. The ability of the sensors in the fingers of the glove to monitor the movement of the body and ultimately translate the movements to words is an ideal way to help the hearing, visual, and speech-impaired communication to a greater realm of people.
ReplyDeleteWhile this piece of equipment, right now, is not entirely practical due to its size and weight, according to Moore’s Law, it will eventually become smaller and cheaper
The article even states that Ayoub has “created a computer application for displaying the signed words and phrases on a small screen. Eventually, she wants to create a mobile app so the same effect can be seen on a smart phone, and once Wi-Fi is incorporated, the glove could also be used to send texts and emails.” In the future, I would predict this type of software be more accessible to a large group of people and perform more versatile tasks.
http://www.sciencealert.com/this-new-smart-glove-can-turn-sign-language-into-text-and-speech