Sign Language Generation System Based on Indian Sign Language Grammar

Abstract

Sign Language (SL), also known as gesture-based language, is used by people with hearing loss to convey their messages. SL interpreters are required for people who do not have the knowledge of SL, but interpreters are not readily available. Thus, a machine-based translation system is required to translate the text into SL. In this article, a system is implemented for translating English text into Indian Sign Language (ISL). It acts as a tool for human-computer interaction and eliminates the need for an ISL human interpreter for communicating with people who have hearing loss. The system features a rich corpus of English words and commonly used sentences. It consists of components such as an ISL parser, the Hamburg Notation System, the Signing Gesture Mark-up Language, and 3D avatar animation for generating SL according to ISL grammar. The proposed system has been tested rigorously by SL users. The results proved that the proposed system is highly efficient and achieves an average score of accuracy (i.e., 4.2 for English words and 3.8 for sentences on a scale from 1 to 5). The performance of proposed system has also been evaluated using the BiLingual Evaluation Understudy score, which results in 0.95 accuracy. The proposed system and mobile application together has the potential to bring individuals with hearing loss and their entourage together.