Pattern recognition and synthesis for sign language translation system

Sign language is one means of communication for hearing-impaired people. Words and sentences in sign language are mainly represented by hands' gestures. In this report, we show a sign language translation system which we are developing. The system translates Japanese sign language into Japanese and vice versa. In this system, hand shape and position data are inputted using DataGlove. Inputted hand motions are recognized and translated into Japanese sentences. Japanese text is translated into sign language represented as 3-D computer-graphic animation of sign language gestures.