There’s a new technology called Enable Talk that could potentially revolutionize the translation of sign language across the world.

At the Microsoft Imagine Cup, an event where students compete to showcase their best technological innovation, a group called QuadSquad placed first in the Software Design category.  .

Enable Talk is a special system which utlilizes gloves to translate sign language into text, which is then converted from text into spoken English.  The battery-powered gloves have sensors that detect what is being signed.  It is connected to a smartphone via a Bluetooth.

The product was tested with sign language users in Ukraine.  Some more links about Enable Talk are below:

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/item/28220-enable-talk-communication/
http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/09/enable-talk-imagine-cup/