For people living in a world without sound, sign language can make sure their points of view are heard. But outside of the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities, this gesture-based language can lose its meaning.

    Now two technology students in the United States has designed a pair of gloves to break down the communication barriers, by translating hand gestures into speech.

    Called “SignAloud,” the gloves use embedded* sensors to monitor the position and movement of the user’s hands. Using this information, the gloves transmit the data via Bluetooth to a computer which analyzes the movements and checks them against a library of gestures.

    The system is based on algorithms* that learn from a catalogue of signing examples.

    In practice, if a hand gesture is a match then the appropriate sound is spoken by the computerized voice through a speaker.

    In a demonstration* video, inventors Thomas Pryor and Navid Azodi can be seen signing with the gloves, while a computerized voice translates the movements.” The designers believe the gloves could find uses in other fields, such as monitoring stroke* patients during their rehabilitation*.(SD-Agencies)