Voice 2 Sign: An Intelligent Gateway to Indian Sign Language

Abstract

Communication plays an integral role in the lives of the deaf and hard-of-hearing, mainly because sign language is not broadly understood. This paper aims at filling that gap in communication by creating a system for interpreting speech into ISL, or Indian Sign Language, by using images or GIFs from NLP. This system converts the audio inputs to text using Python and Google's Speech Recognizer API and applies NLP functionalities to process this text for generating sign language tokens, which are then rendered as ISL gestures. Innovations in technique combined with tailoring itself specifically to operate along with the deaf community of India provide a scalable accessible solution toward inclusivity and reducing the communication gap. Central to its functionality are features like speech-to-text conversion, processing with NLP techniques, and generation of ISL altogether within a user-friendly application. It leaves the limitations present in the existing solutions about getting the right translation along with processing speed and privacy concerns by using modern algorithms and architecture. Its modular design will provide great opportunities in its further extensions and enhancements. A paper that would empower the hearing impaired and bring along with it better access to education, employment, and social participation will help in overcoming barriers in communication as a contribution toward making society more inclusive while promoting technological innovation in assistive communication systems.