Yawn, this is old news.

SJKebab: How dare they spend all that cash on helping the deaf use phones, when there's so many blind people out there who have no means of communication with the world.

As long as there are people putting square pegs in round holes, there will be people making square pegs and round holes.

While this is cool, it seems like it would be better to have a camera phone app that could look directly at the signing person, using the camera instead of a glove that has to be carried around... and translate on the fly in text and/or synthesized speech, with the option to keep a copy of the session as text. It would have to understand the difference between ASL, Signed English, and finger spelling.

I'd be shocked if this wasn't already in development.

Didn't Joel Robinson predict this?

\lots of good ideas in the invention exchange.

Anne Frank was blind and deaf. How would that help her?

MatrixOutsider: Anne Frank could have used one.

Farker Soze: Anne Frank was blind and deaf. How would that help her?

She used Braille.

Is there any reason why deaf people could just text their messages?

Any Pie Left: While this is cool, it seems like it would be better to have a camera phone app that could look directly at the signing person, using the camera instead of a glove that has to be carried around... and translate on the fly in text and/or synthesized speech, with the option to keep a copy of the session as text. It would have to understand the difference between ASL, Signed English, and finger spelling.

I'd be shocked if this wasn't already in development.

Agreed. You could probably do it with a Kinect. Certainly with the next-gen Kinect, which means there are ones in the hands of developers now.

DOES IT TYPE IN ALL CAPS?

Certainly, deaf people trying to communicate to hearing people when there's no interpreter, will use texting, or scribbled notes on a notepad, but since not everyone is going to bother learning to read sign, just to accommodate the deaf, it WOULD be smoother and easier if you just had an interpreter app available on your smartphone.

I think what I'd do with the app if I was a developer is make use of the accelerometer and gyro, so that turning the phone upside-down would change modes to capture my lips with the camera and lip-read a translation into text, that the deaf person could see on the screen. It would be easy just to invert the phone and then right it, as you took turns communicating, each in the best mode.

Public Call Box: Didn't Joel Robinson predict this?

\lots of good ideas in the invention exchange.

Presenting...

A mundane gizmo that does something silly in addition!

/whaddya think, sirs?
//think my fave was the "royalty-free karaoke" machine

Any Pie Left: Certainly, deaf people trying to communicate to hearing people when there's no interpreter, will use texting, or scribbled notes on a notepad, but since not everyone is going to bother learning to read sign, just to accommodate the deaf, it WOULD be smoother and easier if you just had an interpreter app available on your smartphone.

I think what I'd do with the app if I was a developer is make use of the accelerometer and gyro, so that turning the phone upside-down would change modes to capture my lips with the camera and lip-read a translation into text, that the deaf person could see on the screen. It would be easy just to invert the phone and then right it, as you took turns communicating, each in the best mode.

why not just take turns typing?

Many in the deaf community are illiterate. I have no idea why... it would seem counter-intuitive... but there you go.

Arthur Jumbles: Is there any reason why deaf people could just text their messages?

Assuming you were wondering why they don't, written English is a representation of spoken English. There's a sound to symbol direct translation and it follows spoken word rules.

Sign Language has its own syntax and such, and if you were deaf from birth and never went through speech training, written English makes about as much sense to use as written Chinese.

Reading grade level of most deaf folk is quite low, but so are most teen texters so you might have a point.

Unimpressed.

Sign language translator

Now that loud girl with the pink drill hair won't have to text for the student council president anymore.

learn to read and write and stop avoiding EVERYTHING that hearing people do.

SuperT: Any Pie Left: Certainly, deaf people trying to communicate to hearing people when there's no interpreter, will use texting, or scribbled notes on a notepad, but since not everyone is going to bother learning to read sign, just to accommodate the deaf, it WOULD be smoother and easier if you just had an interpreter app available on your smartphone.

I think what I'd do with the app if I was a developer is make use of the accelerometer and gyro, so that turning the phone upside-down would change modes to capture my lips with the camera and lip-read a translation into text, that the deaf person could see on the screen. It would be easy just to invert the phone and then right it, as you took turns communicating, each in the best mode.

why not just take turns typing?

Why not just use the microphone available on every smartphone and technology like transcription which is also built in to every Android and iOS smartphone... So Deaf people just have the mic on... and see what other people are saying in text. Seems a lot easier than attempting to build lip reading software no one has.

I should mention, the opposite way, they should just type or use Swype to produce text for responses. Should it be necessary, that could even be read via software, but frankly just the text is probably fine... I can't see a scenario that sign language interpretation is beneficial for conversation with someone who doesn't know it... It's slower than normal speech, so it has to be slower than typing, no?

FYI, learning to read (and write) is very difficult for folks who are severely hearing impaired. I think the average reading level is 2nd grade. (You can't learn phonics if if you don't know phonemes.)

Any Pie Left: While this is cool, it seems like it would be better to have a camera phone app that could look directly at the signing person, using the camera instead of a glove that has to be carried around... and translate on the fly in text and/or synthesized speech, with the option to keep a copy of the session as text. It would have to understand the difference between ASL, Signed English, and finger spelling.

I'd be shocked if this wasn't already in development.

It already exists, thanks to Sprint.