Enable Talk Gloves Helps the Hearing Impaired Communicate

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For those who are speech or hearing impaired, sign language can be one of their main forms of communication. The issue is that not everyone knows sign language which can lead to communication barriers.  Three Ukrainian students have just won first place in Microsoft’s Imagine Cup 2012 with their Enable Talk Glove project.  The glove translates sign language and then wirelessly sends the translation to a smartphone app.

“.. we’ve developed the model of gloves that includes modern microcontroller, 15 flex sensors, accelerometer, gyroscope, and a compass in order to define the position of the glove in space, a Bluetooth module for data transmission from the gloves to a mobile device and a USB-port for the synchronization with the PC and for charging the Li-ion battery that provides power. The glove is also fitted with a solar panel to provide for longer intervals between charging and out of concern for environment.”

The current prototype retails for around $50 however, hopefully with economy of scale, once this goes into full production the price will be a lot less.

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