From an Associated Press article at the Toronto Star: E-glove turns sign language into speech.
An electronic glove that can turn American Sign Language gestures into spoken words or text, designed to help the deaf communicate more easily with the hearing world, is under development.
Researcher Jose Hernandez-Rebollar of George Washington University has demonstrated that his "AcceleGlove" can translate the rapid hand movements used to make the alphabet and some of the words and phrases of sign language. (...)
Hernandez-Rebollar demonstrated his invention during a recent interview. He wore a right-hand glove and two small armbands, one near his wrist and the other on his upper arm.
His software converted the signs he made with his hand into sound from a small loudspeaker — all in milliseconds. After a few taps on a laptop keyboard, he made standard American Sign Language gestures and the loudspeaker came out with single words — "food," "drink," "restaurant," "father." The words can also appear typed on a screen.
The single glove can make the signs that correspond to all 26 letters of the alphabet, so any word can be spelled out. But this is a slow process.
American Sign Language also includes hundreds of gestures that express single words and simple sentences, but most require two hands. So far the single glove can produce fewer than 200 words that can be signed with the one hand, and a few expressions such as "What's the matter?" and "I'll help you."
Some further testing is needed, Hernandez-Rebollar said. He believes the right hand glove could be manufactured and on the market next year, while a two-handed version with much greater possibilities could be ready in 2005. [full article]
Related links:
The Sound of One-Hand Signing - from George Washington University
photo of the Acceleglove (scroll down a bit) - from George Washington University
Acceleglove: Turning sign into much more from nbo4.com
Sign Language Glove - from komotv.com
Giving a Helping Hand - from techtv.com
A High-Tech Helping Hand: Prototype Glove Translates Sign Langauge Into Speech - from abcnews.go.com