homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Glove translates American sign language into real-time speech

There are more than 500,000 people who use American Sign Language in the US alone.

Tibi Puiu
June 29, 2020 @ 7:14 pm

share Share

Credit: Jun Chen Lab/UCLA.

A high-tech glove equipped with motion sensors can translate American Sign Language into spoken English through a smartphone app. The translation takes place in real-time, enabling people with speech disabilities to communicate with the outside world.

“Our hope is that this opens up an easy way for people who use sign language to communicate directly with non-signers without needing someone else to translate for them,” said Jun Chen, an assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of California, Los Angeles and the principal investigator on the research. “In addition, we hope it can help more people learn sign language themselves.”

Gloves that track people’s gestures are already proving very useful in applications from virtual reality to telesurgery.

The sign-language-to-speech gloves are layered with thin, stretchable sensors that run the length of each digit on the hand. The sensors can pick up even the subtlest gestures and hand motions, such as finger placements that represent letters, numbers, words, and phrases in American Sign Language.

The finger movements are converted into electrical signals, which are sent to a smartphone via a coin-sized circuit board worn on the wrist. Finally, an app on the phone translates the signals into spoken words at a rate of about one word per second.

Short video of a wearable glove to translate sign language. Credit: Jun Chen Lab/UCLA.

Researchers also experimented with adhesive sensors glued to the subjects’ faces in order to also translate facial expressions that are part of American Sign Language.

In the United States, more than 500,000 individuals use sign language as their primary mode of communication. It’s unclear how many sign languages there are in the world, and there is still very little research in this regard, but one often-quoted estimate puts the number at 137.

Previous wearable systems designed to translate American Sign Language for common folk also proved somewhat effective, but they were limited by bulky auxiliary equipment and could be uncomfortable to wear.

In contrast, the UCLA gloves are lightweight, durable, and employ flexible and inexpensive electronic sensors.

During tests with four deaf subjects, the participants performed hand gestures while wearing the gloves, repeating each gesture 15 times. The machine-learning algorithm could recognize and translate 660 signs, including letters, numbers, and words.

The findings appeared in the journal Nature Electronics.

share Share

Gardening Really Is Good for You, Science Confirms

Gardening might do more for your health than you think.

The surprising health problem surging in over 50s: sexually transmitted infections

Doctors often don't ask older patients about sex. But as STI cases rise among older adults, both awareness and the question need to be raised.

Kids Are Swallowing Fewer Coins and It Might Be Because of Rising Cashless Payments

The decline of cash has coincided with fewer surgeries for children swallowing coins.

Horses Have a Genetic Glitch That Turned Them Into Super Athletes

This one gene mutation helped horses evolve unmatched endurance.

Scientists Discover Natural Antibiotics Hidden in Our Cells

The proteasome was thought to be just a protein-recycler. Turns out, it can also kill bacteria

Future Windows Could Be Made of Wood, Rice, and Egg Whites

Simple materials could turn wood into a greener glass alternative.

Researchers Turn 'Moon Dust' Into Solar Panels That Could Power Future Space Cities

"Moonglass" could one day keep the lights on.

Ford Pinto used to be the classic example of a dangerous car. The Cybertruck is worse

Is the Cybertruck bound to be worse than the infamous Pinto?

Archaeologists Find Neanderthal Stone Tool Technology in China

A surprising cache of stone tools unearthed in China closely resembles Neanderthal tech from Ice Age Europe.

A Software Engineer Created a PDF Bigger Than the Universe and Yes It's Real

Forget country-sized PDFs — someone just made one bigger than the universe.