BrightSign is a smart glove that enables nonverbal people to communicate with others who cannot understand sign language.
Brightsign is an amazing accessory… And an essential one! Available for deaf or non-verbal people. This smart glove is also very simple and useful. It is used for translating hand gestures into verbal speeches allowing to create a communicative bridge between the deaf, people with speech disabilities and those who do not understand sign language.
What Hadeel Ayoub started as a simple study while completing her PhD project, was finally turned into a technological revolution, as she presented at Viva Technology Show in Paris last May.
“ As I was testing with groups in schools and speech therapy clinics, I kept being asked about when this technology is going to be developed in the market ,” explains Hadeel Ayoub.
In the world, 466 million people, or 5% of the total population, have hearing and verbal impairments, preventing them from communicating with others. Among them, only 70 million people use sign language as their main language and have access to either a strong education in that language, or to assistive technologies, which are often very expensive.
“This is a technology with a very strong human impact, since it aims to free people and make them independent through two-way communication where eye contact can be maintained,” Hadeel said.
Hadeel wanted to develop technology that could be used by children at school or in the park, and connect them with other children or adults. It required a device which works faster than translators, which is both practical and transportable, which could also be worn by hospital staff, airports or other public spaces.
The glove, although it presents a very advanced technology with smart sensors, is very simple and intuitive to use. In addition to being discreet and suitable for all occasions, it is customizable.
BrightSign has a microscopic computer hardware, which allows its wearer to record and name their own gesture. This is the biggest innovation that BrightSign has brought, compared to its predecessors which have preinstalled gestures.
Taking into account the variations in movements, as well as the great disparities of the motor skills of each person, this new technology makes it possible to obtain 97% accuracy compared to the competitors.
BrightSign can also adapt to someones body language, since each gesture can be converted into a word, and therefore into speech. It allows communication even with those who do not speak sign language in particular, but who speak with their hands in general.
Compared to other equipment already available in the market, Hadeel has made every effort to make the device accessible first to those who need it the most, and also to the greatest number of people: an essential issue if we want to promote communication between all individuals. This equipment, which usually costs several thousand dollars, only costs $100, thanks to funding won at the AXA Health Tech and You competition, as well as contributions from groups like IBM or Booking.com.
With $1.4 million raised for the launch of the smart glove and the care taken to choose her production and distribution partners, Hadeel will be able to distribute BrightSign to educational institutions and support services for deaf and nonverbal people for free.
Hadeel’s big dream was to build a technology which has the power to change the lives of millions of people. By bridging the gaps in the most vital link in society and communication, Brightsign aims to achieve a more inclusive society through innovative assistive technology.
