Technology Enhancements for Sensory Impaired

July 3, 2012 5:10 PM

Recent technologies developed at American universities are making communication easier for the sight and hearing impaired. Last summer a Stanford undergrad developed a touchscreen Braille writer that stands to revolutionize how the blind negotiate an unseen world by replacing devices costing up to 10 times more. Thanks to a group of University of Houston students, the hearing impaired may soon have an easier time communicating with those who do not understand sign language. During the past semester, students in UH’s engineering technology and industrial design programs teamed up to develop the concept and prototype for MyVoice, a device that reads sign language and translates its motions into audible words, and vice versa.
posted by netbros (4 comments total)

This is brilliant, and I know, just know, someone has made a certain sign and yell "Can you translate this?"



OPnly to have the machine say "fuck you"! Hah!
posted by eriko at 6:42 PM on July 3, 2012

This is interesting, and I'd love to see video of the ASL translator. (I mean, it can't be even as good as Google Translate is for spoken languages, but still!)
posted by Casuistry at 8:16 PM on July 3, 2012

Thanks for that, such a simple idea with the tablet, but so effective. It makes me wonder what other technologies we idly use every day with nary as thought as to how they could transforms someone's life. That's what a real first-world problem looks like.
posted by smoke at 4:10 AM on July 4, 2012

Ukrainian Students Develop Gloves That Translate Sign Language Into Speech
posted by homunculus at 6:21 PM on July 11, 2012