Thursday 18 / April / 2024
Muscat: A team of Omani researchers was able to develop a system that translates sign language into written text and then into voice, Oman News Agency (ONA) said.
A statement issued online by ONA said that an Omani research project carried out by a team from Sohar University managed to develop an intelligent system that translates sign language and converts it into written text and then to audio.
The project aimed to develop a system capable of recognising hand gestures used by persons who are vocally and hearing impaired, through the use of neural networks, image processing technology and the Internet of Things.
The research team includes: Dr. Abdullah Abu Al-Kishek, Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Networks and Databases Program, the student Sarah bint Salem Al-Khaifia, and the student Mujtaba Jaafar.
Dr. Abdullah Abu Al-Kishk told Oman News Agency: “This project comes within the framework of the institutional research support programme based on competence, and it is one of the research projects funded by the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation.”
He added, "We worked on designing a database containing 62,000 images, where images were taken of the signals, and about 2,000 images were taken for each of the signals in the system, pointing out that the next stage of the project will be the presence of a necklace with a portable camera that will photograph persons who are vocally and hearing impaired, and translation is done immediately after that from reference to sound.”
He stated that the project faced many challenges at its inception, including the existence of some differences related to sign language, which sometimes differ globally or even institutionally, as the team visited some concerned and related institutions to access an accurate database to choose the most widespread sign language.
He stressed that the importance of the research project lies in its ability to contribute to strengthening and facilitating the communication of persons who are vocally and hearing impaired in the society, and making sign language understandable to everyone. Thus, this research project provides advanced technology that facilitates the lives of many people.
It is noteworthy that the results of this study will be published this March in the international scientific journal specialised in the field of computing and its applications (IJASCA).
