Technology That Translates Sign Language into Text Aims to Empower Sign Language Users From: University of Aberdeen - 03/12/2012 By: Kelly Potts The software application is the first of its kind in the world which can be used on portable devices and allows users to customise sign language to their own specific needs, and is being developed by scientists in Aberdeen. University of Aberdeen researchers have developed the Portable Sign Language Translator (PSLT), software that can be used on mobile devices and enables users to customize sign language to their specific needs. "The aim of the technology ... is to empower sign language users by enabling them to overcome the communication challenges they can experience, through portable technology," says Aberdeen's Ernesto Compatangelo. PSLT can be used with a range of sign languages, including British Sign Language (BSL), which is a general-purpose language that possesses limitations for some users. PSLT enables users to personalize sign languages in such a way that these limitations can be overcome. "One of the most innovative and exciting aspects of the technology is that it allows sign language users to actually develop their own signs for concepts and terms they need to have in their vocabulary, but they may not have been able to express easily when using BSL," Compatangelo says. To use the program, a persons signs in front of a standard camera that comes with portable computing devices. The program then translates the signs into text that can be read by others. Read the entire article at: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/details-11751.php Links: Portable Sign Language Translator http://www.pslt.org/ Ernesto Compatangelo http://www.csd.abdn.ac.uk/~ecompata/ Technabling http://www.technabling.co.uk/