Glove Turns Sign Language Into Speech
Sensor glove translates sign language to speech
WASHINGTON — An electronic glove that can turn American Sign Language gestures into spoken words or text, designed to help the deaf communicate more easily with the hearing world, is under development.
Researcher Jose Hernandez-Rebollar of George Washington University has demonstrated that his “AcceleGlove” can translate the rapid hand movements used to make the alphabet and some of the words and phrases of sign language.
His is not the only such experimental device; the military is exploring similar technology to silently help soldiers in combat. But Hernandez-Rebollar says his invention goes further than others because it also can translate into spoken words and simple sentences some of the more complex arm and body motions of ASL.
“I want to produce something that deaf people can use in everyday life,” he said.
According to the National Campaign for Hearing Health, which promotes research and education about hearing loss, 28 million people in the United States have hearing trouble. More than one-third of the cases are caused at least partly by accumulated exposure to noise from everyday encounters with airplanes, air conditioners, hair dryers, dishwashers, garbage disposals, lawn mowers, auto-theft alarms and rock music.
The AcceleGlove is a wearable computer with super-small electronic circuitry. Sensors in the glove work with a micro-controller attached to the wearer’s arm, mapping the placement and movement of the arm and fingers. That information is turned into data a computer can read and convert to words heard from a loudspeaker or read on a computer screen.
Deaf parents with hearing children, and vice versa, could find the glove helpful, said Corinne K. Vinopol, who heads the Institute for Disabilities, Research and Training Inc. The commercial laboratory in suburban Wheaton, Md., is where Hernandez-Rebollar has been doing much of his work.
But the idea of turning sign language into speech annoys some deaf people who see ASL — used in the United States and English-speaking Canada — as part of their unique culture.
“Some feel that being deaf is not a deficiency,” said Andy Lange, president of the National Association of the Deaf. “It’s simply another way of life, and the deaf should not use artificial means to overcome a loss of hearing.”
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