Signer.AI: a digital sign language translator empowering the hearing-impaired

SIGN language is a collection of movements – usually hand movements – which represent words and phrases. It is the main form of communication for people who are hearing-impaired. There are hundreds of different forms of sign languages that are in use around the world, with the most common being American Sign Language or ASL. Even though sign languages are usually learned and used by people who cannot hear, many others are also increasingly learning sign languages which are valued as a linguistic skill in companies and organizations worldwide. 

There are more than 430 million people in the world who have some form of hearing loss, according to the World Health Organization, with a large portion of them in the developing world. It is estimated that around 63 million people in India suffer from significant auditory impairment, which is around 6.3% of the population of the country. For millions of people who are hearing-impaired, sign language is an empowering equalizer that allows them to access their basic rights such as education, employment, housing and other services that every person needs to live and thrive. This is true of most people who are hearing-impaired but people from poor and marginalized backgrounds suffer even more. 

Friends For Inclusion is a Bengaluru-based NGO that has partnered with International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore to develop an AI tool called Signer.AI which translates speech into Indian Sign Language, enabling deaf children and adults to communicate with ease and speed. Through Signer.AI, the organization aims to:

• make higher education accessible with real-time interpretation in classrooms for deaf students
• make books available in Indian Sign Language (ISL)
• make essential services such as banking or voting more accessible and inclusive 
• make workplaces more ISL-inclusive in meetings, training and video conferencing
• enable deaf individuals to access multimedia content like YouTube, Netflix, podcasts and other platforms
• promote Indian Sign Language as a crucial need for hearing impaired individuals 

This International Day of Sign Languages, let’s learn more about the history of sign languages and how Friends For Inclusion is taking giant strides ahead in incorporating AI, the tech of the future, to empowering deaf communities in India.

When did humans start using sign language?

The origins of sign language are perhaps as old as humans themselves since it is only gradually that humans developed a spoken language. But the first person credited with developing a formal language using hand movements to teach deaf people is Pedro Ponce de León in the 1500s in Spain. His method involved a gesture of the hand for each letter of the alphabet, allowing people to spell out words using each symbol.

Two centuries later, Charles Michel de l’Épée founded a school for the deaf in France in the 1700s and is thought to have developed Old French Sign Language, one of the oldest formal sign languages in the world. British Sign Language (BSL) and American Sign Language (ASL) followed in the 1800s which is the basis for the hundreds of sign languages that developed around the world.

Now, there are more than 300 sign languages in the world, usually based on geographical location and this includes Indian Sign Language. Indian Sign Language is thought to have developed and come into form around the late early 21st century. Indian Sign Language or ISL has multiple variations based on the vernacular but most ISL signers can understand different forms of ISL spoken in different regions of India. 

The marginalized lack access to sign languages

As important as sign languages are, there are millions of people in India without access to sign language teaching and learning. Because of this, these hearing-impaired children and adults are cut off from opportunities to go to school and get an education or seek and secure employment. Without education or an income, deaf children and adults are disadvantaged and have no chance to improve their futures. The likelihood of poverty – and all that comes with it – increases and suffering ensues. 

Friends For Inclusion’s ISL translator tool called Signer.AI

But there are NGOs across India that teach sign languages to deaf children and adults with the aim of empowering these individuals and giving them a strong foundation to improve their futures. Friends For Inclusion is a Bengaluru-based NGO that has created a digital sign language translator called Signer.AI that was created to help the most marginalized get access to Indian Sign Language learning and translation tools. Friends For Inclusion has partnered with International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore to create Signer.AI which uses artificial intelligence, natural language processing, 3-D animation and other technologies to convert speech into Indian Sign Language in real time. 

In 2022, Friends For Inclusion’s Signer.AI project received the prestigious “Smart Solutions Challenge and Inclusive Cities Award 2022” a recognition conferred by the United Nations and the National Institute of Urban Affairs, Government of India.

Signer.AI has created a bank of 300 words and takes into consideration facial expressions and grammar in the Indian context. The Friends For Inclusion team is working with their partners to expand the word bank from 300 words to 10,000 words and enable its users to have access to a vast vocabulary that helps deaf people from underprivileged backgrounds communicate with people in any part of India with ease and effectiveness – uplifting and empowering them. 

To support Friends For Inclusion and help the NGO develop its Signer.AI digital Indian Sign Language translator for hearing-impaired individuals from underprivileged communities: 

Support Signer.AI

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