Friday, September 7, 2012

Cutting-Edge Technology to Empower People with Speech Impairments and Limited Mobility


 

From: University of Aberdeen - 09/04/2012

By: Jennifer Phillips


University of Aberdeen researchers have developed software that enables people with impaired speech and mobility to assign simple gestures to actions they would like to be performed in their home. Wireless communication technologies are used to link the software to devices in the home. "For some people hand gestures are the only way of interacting with the environment around them because of speech impairments and reduced mobility, as a result of illness or an accident," says Aberdeen lecturer Ernesto Compatangelo. The technology is based on the Portable Sign Language Translator (PSLT), which helps users translate sign language into text. "In devising the PSLT, we wanted to create software that enables independent living not only by addressing the individualized communication needs of signers, but also their ambient control needs," Compatangelo says. People using PSLT sign into a standard camera integrated into a laptop, netbook, smartphone, or other portable device. Their signs are immediately converted into text, which can be read by the person they are conversing with. "Essentially any gesture can be assigned to any given word," Compatangelo notes.

 

Read the entire article at:


Links:

Portable Sign Language Translator


Ernesto Compatangelo


Technabling

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