A solution developed by DeepVisionTech.AI converts signs into speech and vice versa
People with speech and hearing impairment are always at a disadvantageous position when they go to banks, hospitals, public offices, retail stores and schools. They find it tough to access digital content and services and communicate too on the online platforms.
Here’s a start-up, DeepVisionTech.AI, which builds a digital interpreter solutions, using artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions.
After a couple of pilots, the Bengaluru-based start-up is planning to bring out commercial solutions this year.
“There is a huge shortage of schools and interpreters to train the needy in sign languages. They are discriminated against when it comes to recruitment. They face a lot of problems when they go out. Because others don’t know their language, it’s very difficult for them to interact with the world,” Jayasudan Munsamy, Co-Founder of DeepVisionTech.AI, told Business Line.
The fact that there are only about 400 schools teaching in sign language for an estimated 20 lakh deaf students in the country reflects the gravity of the problem.
To teach the machines the sign language, the firm fed hundreds of variations how a particular sign is used by different people.
Out of the four employees (including the other Co-Founder Arul praveen T that the start-up has), two employees are themselves have hearing impairment. “In fact, they acted as a Testing and Quality Assurance resources too for us as we build the products,” Jayasudan said.
While helping the needy to convert their signs into speech, letting others understand what they are saying, their solution — Let’sTalkSign — can covert the signs into speech, ensuring a hassle-free communication. A digital avtar takes charge as the user clicks on it and helps hem or her to communicate.
Besides helping organisations convert the content on the websites and in textbooks into deaf-friendly content, the solution can help retail stores, banks, offices and healthcare interact with the people with language disabilities.
“Let’sTalkSign will help businesses to be inclusive, by enabling them to recruit deaf and speech and hearing impaired people,” he said.
The solution, which is device agnostic, can identify each word from the signs, read identified words out loud and display identified word on screen.
“The processing happens on mobile device itself and hence Internet connection is not mandatory,” he said.
The company is now working on enhancing the solution to interpret the content in audio and video files as well, he added.
Besides winning a grant from IIIT-Bengaluru, the start-up has won a seed funding from STPI’s Chunauti competition. Technology major Oracle has provided cloud credits worth ₹20 lakhs.
“We are planning to raise about ₹45-50 lakh for further expansion,” Jayasudan said.
Published on
May 02, 2022
