New Device Converts Sign Language to Audible Speech
Students at the University of Houston designed a device called MyVoice, which uses a video camera to capture a person’s sign language movements. It also contains a small video monitor, a microphone and a speaker. Software processes the images and determines what was said, and then translates the word or phrase into speech, which is transmitted through an electronic voice.
It also works backward, capturing a person’s spoken words and projecting the appropriate hand sign onto the monitor. Students sampled a database of images to train their software to recognize the hand signs, according to a UH news release. The team used between 200 and 300 images per sign.