What if we could create spoken words with our hands? There is a product being tested that could alter the lives of the millions of people that use sign language to communicate. Using gloves fitted with flex sensors, touch sensors, gyroscopes and accelerometers, a Ukrainian student team has built a system called EnableTalk that can translate sign language into spoken words.

As all smart developers do, the team has begun their in-the-wild testing on a number of real sign language users. Frederic Lardinois of TechCrunch says:

“The team has built a number of prototypes and tested them with sign language-users in the Ukraine. The idea for the project, said team member Osika Maxim, came from interacting with hearing-impaired athletes at the groups’ school.”

In addition, the project can adjust to real life sign language variances:

“…users can teach the system new gestures and modify those that the team plans to ship in a library of standard gestures. Given the high degree of variation among sign languages, which also has regional dialects just like spoken language, this will be a welcome feature for users.”

The project was one of the six finalists in Microsoft’s Imagine Cup in Sydney.

Pretty neat, right? Let us know what you think in the comments section.