Talk to the hand. Literally

This glove can recognise hand movements and enable speech and hearing-impaired persons to communicate

KARACHI: Hearing and speech-impaired, by virtue of their physical disabilities, often feel isolated which hampers their growth and progress. With few people familiar with the use of sign language, those devoid of hearing and speech abilities find themselves at a disadvantage, unable to communicate or express themselves.

Keeping in view their problems, a group of students from the Usman Institute of Technology, which is affiliated with the NED University of Engineering and Technology, has developed a glove fitted with sensors, to make it easier for the hearing and speech-impaired people to converse with others. Using this glove, they will be able to give voice and sound to their expressions in a way that the listener would literally be hearing them.



The team comprising students Bilal Khan, Sadaf Khan, Fazeela Moin, and HM Mubashir Ghaffar worked under the supervision of their teacher Rehan Ahmed Khan for almost a year before they were finally able to turn the concept of this glove into reality.

Though such solutions are already available internationally, there is a downside to them. They are more costly, available for an approximate price of Rs120,000, and are not programmed to recognise words used in Pakistani sign language.

This particular glove, prepared by Pakistani students costs around Rs30,000, and according to Bilal Khan, it has been designed to recognise more than 3,000 words and 22 idiomatic expressions of the Pakistani sign language. Hence, it is particularly designed keeping in mind the needs of hearing and speech-impaired person in Pakistan.

Further explaining the function of the glove, Bilal Khan said that Flex sensors and ADXL 345 sensors have been installed in the glove, which sense the movements of a person's hand, wrist or elbow, and converts them into previously recorded sounds using a micro controller. As a result, anyone can hear what a hearing or speech-impaired person is saying.

The glove can be charged using a detachable battery and using it will make the lives of hearing and speech-impaired people better.
This idea conceived by the students of Usman Institute of Technology was awarded first prize out of the 59 entries sent for the open house project competition GEEK 2019, organised at Bahria University.