African Engineer Invents ‘Talking Gloves’ for the Deaf
Roy Allela is a 25-year-old engineer and inventor from Kenya, who has invented gloves that can translate signed hand movements into audible speech.
Yes, Allela’s invention allows deaf people to “talk,” or actually verbalize their thoughts, to people who do not “speak” sign language.
How The Gloves Work
Allela calls his invention the Sign-IO gloves. These gloves have sensors mounted on each of the five fingers which detect that finger’s movements, including how much a finger bends. The gloves themselves connect via Bluetooth to an Android app (which Allela also invented), and which uses a text-to-speech function to convert the finger and hand gestures into audible, vocal speech.
Inspiration: People over Profit
Allela decided to invent this device because of his family’s frustration at their inability to communicate with his born-deaf, 6-year-old niece.
“My niece wears the gloves, pairs them to her phone or mine, then starts signing and I’m able to understand what she’s saying,” explains Allela.
But how does his niece — or any other deaf person — “know” or understand what…
