A revolutionary glove pioneered by graduates from the University of Sheffield is helping to give a voice to people with severe speech impediments.
Inventors Vinoth Gurasamy (25), Kalhana Colombage (25), and Hossein Mohanna (28), have produced a ground breaking, lightweight (100 gms) and low-cost (£700) speech aid to transform the lives of people with communication difficulties.
The glove converts simple finger movements into gestures that control speech through a synthesized voice. The user wears the glove and moves fingers in order to articulate more than 1,000 words or commands.
The team has been working closely with William Broad (73) who suffered a stroke in 2010 leaving him unable to talk. He is now able to articulate more than 16 words and phrases including: ‘I am hungry’, ‘I am thirsty’, ‘my name is William’, ‘thank you’, and ‘what time is it’?
The graduates are working on increasing the glove’s word bank and weeklong battery life. Vinoth is planning to bring the path-breaking glove to India next year, and says that the gloves will have multiple language options.
Picture Credit : Google
