Investigating the use of wearable devices that communicate to mobile devices for sign language

Abstract

One of the biggest challenges faced by the deaf members in our society is the communication barrier that arises between them and the hearing community. Meanwhile, the widespread use of smart mobile technology, which is continuously growing, has become an essential part of everyone’s life, including that of the deaf. This dissertation seeks to investigate how the use of smart mobile technology and wearable devices such as the Myo armband, can support the communication between individuals communicating with American Sign Language (ASL) and other individuals. This technology attempts to make it more accessible for individuals who are not familiar with sign language to communicate with hearing impaired individuals, who use sign language as their everyday means of communication. During the process, an experiment was conducted with the gathering of results from the datasets of seventeen (17) participants. The finalised results aided in the development of the prototype for this case study, along with the proper evaluation and analysis needed to translate pre-defined sign language signs to language text and speech on a mobile device, with the use of the Myo wearable device.