Roy Allela’s, 25, has developed smart gloves for deaf persons to communicate with people who don’t know sign language. The Intel employee has created something unique and first of it’s kind which will allow deaf people to communicate with non-deaf people using smart phones and bluetooth gloves. These gloves are outfitted with sensors that transmit the movements of the users fingers and translates them into text to speech to be used in an app on a smart phone.
From the Guardian: The gloves – named Sign-IO – have flex sensors stitched on to each finger. The sensors quantify the bend of the fingers and process the letter being signed. The gloves are paired via Bluetooth to a mobile phone application that Allela also developed, which then vocalizes the letters.
I personally have experience with this situation when I was volunteering at the Earle Baum Center of the Blind when figuring out how to communicate with a deaf-blind student. I simply just used my laptop and started a text document so we could communicate back and fourth. These gloves however will not only speed things along but will allow a deaf person to continue to use their primary language.
“My niece wears the gloves, pairs them to her phone or mine, then starts signing and I’m able to understand what she’s saying, Like all sign language users, she’s very good at lip reading, so she doesn’t need me to sign back.” says Allela.
I find the technology these days just mind blowing and this came from someone who had a personal cause that made him create such a brilliant accessibility adaptation to communication bridging the gap of language and bringing us closer together once again.
I recently published a video on my YouTube channel that goes over this article in more detail which you can watch here.
The following resource was sent in to me by a reader and I would encourage you to check it out here. It covers other ways to improve audible sensory input through amplification.
5 Best Amplified Cell Phone for People with Hearing Problems
