On the implementation of text to Arabic Sign Language converter on mobile phones

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Al-Khalifa, Hend S.

Affiliations: Information Technology Department, College of Computer and Information Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 22452, Riyadh 11495, Saudi Arabia. E-mail: hendk@ksu.edu.sa

Abstract: Arabic Sign Language (ArSL) is considered the native language for more than 17 million deaf people in the Arab world. There exist a major communication gap between the deaf and the hearing people, which can be attributed to the lack of proper communication technologies. This technical paper presents the design and implementation of a mobile system that converts written Arabic text to ArSL using a signing avatar that operates on mobile phones. The system takes into consideration the linguistic idiosyncrasies of Arabic language as well as employs text-to-sign-language animation. The main contribution of this system resides in its novel approach for processing Arabic text and animating a 3D signing avatar within minimum computational resources found in mobile phones.

Keywords: Arabic Sign Language, mobile phones, hearing impaired, natural language processing, signing avatar

DOI: 10.3233/TAD-2011-0312

Journal: Technology and Disability, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 65-74, 2011