Sign language is the core visual medium used by the hearing impaired to communicate and this is about to get a massive functionality update with mobile phone technology being developed to properly capture the hands and gestures.
In a closed laboratory setting, engineers are now able to proudly announce that the new phone system works –focused on properly capturing specific visual elements (as stated above, the face, both of the hands and the movements or gestures) in order to deliver a higher quality visual output. Since visual communication takes a lot of juice from the phone, the system only kicks in the special software when it detects that the person is gesturing in American Sign Language. The system is currently automatic, though more advanced settings and features might be added along the way.
For the sake of development, the system currently only recognizes ASL standards, though it is believed that the system can be made to adapt to other languages when used in other regions (such as locally in the UK).
The biggest concern now for this new technology is to have it tested on the field. As it has been proven time and time again, getting good results in real life situations is not as easy as it would be in a controlled laboratory environment where all elements are adjustable. And as one might expect, mobile phones tend to be used in an extremely wide range of possible situations.
Naturally, even without the development of this technology, mobile phones already provide plenty of communication options and provisions for the hearing impaired. While voice calls are usually out of the question, being able to send instant messages and SMS to other mobiles have been very useful in bridging the communication gap. It will be a while before we see the sign language technology being rolled out for consumer use, but expect this research to lead into even more developments.
Tags: hearing-impaired, technology, video-calling