Roy Allela is a Kenyan innovator who invented Sign-IO, a smart glove technology that converts sign language into audio speech. He is an experienced software engineer with strong programming skills at Intel and a tutor at Oxford University. The African inventor’s interests lie in the application of machine learning and embedded systems to solve problems society faces.

A need in the Family

A March 2020 World Health Organisation report stated that approximately 466 million people worldwide face disabling hearing loss, out of which 34 million are children; this could double in the next 30 years. In addition, only 17% of those who could benefit from the use of hearing or communication aid actually have access to it.

While this may seem so far-fetched for some people, the reality hit home for Roy Allela when his niece was born deaf. The little girl studied sign language to be able to communicate. Because many in her family didn’t understand sign language, though, communication remained a challenge outside of school for the six-year-old girl. But Allela, like many tech evangelists who seek out solutions to every societal problem, believed there was a way around it. He set about creating the first smart gloves that would translate sign language into a speech pattern comprehensible to anyone with a smartphone and a special app built into it.

The first pair of Sign-IO smart gloves the African inventor made was piloted in Migori County, a rural community in Kenya’s South-West. The pilot allowed Allela to make changes by adjusting the speed of conversion of language to audio. Because different people speak and sign at different speed levels, creating an app that syncs quickly enough makes it easy to understand fast signers.

Sign-IO

Sign-IO is a sign language-to-speech translation glove that aims to extend the communication capabilities of persons with speech impairment.

The Sign-IO smart gloves come with flex sensors stitched to the fingers. Each time the user makes a sign, the sensors measure the bend of each finger in order to process what letter or word is being created. The data is transmitted to a Bluetooth-paired app on a smartphone which vocalises the sign.

The app comes with different options for gender as well, meaning you can have the audio speech in a male or female voice. In addition, the user or listener gets to set the pitch of the vocalisation and, more importantly, the language of the audio. With a 93% accuracy, Sign-IO offers a more reliable medium for communication by amplifying the thoughts and ideas of people living with speech impediment.

To fight the stigma, Roy Allela has come up with different designs to add style to Sign-IO smart gloves. The wearer is free to choose from a pair of Spider-Man-styled gloves or a design that is less mundane and more interesting than a functional sign language interpreter.

The African inventor hopes to place at least two Sign-IO smart gloves in every special needs school in Kenya.

Awards

Roy Allela’s Sign-IO smart gloves have been recognised for the good they serve in the lives of persons with speech impediments. The inventor was shortlisted for the 2019 Africa Prize of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

The smart gloves won the Hardware Trailblazer award at the 2017 ASME Innovation Showcase (ISHOW) competition of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Roy Allela is hoping to use the prize money to make more accurate vocal predictions.

Allela’s niece needed a translator anytime she went outside in order to be able to communicate. It stands to reason that her options in life, like the millions of other persons living with hearing or speech impediments would be affected by this lack.

“I was trying to envision how my niece’s life would be if she had the same opportunities as everyone else in education, employment, all aspects of life,” Roy said of his design, and the truth cannot be overemphasized enough. Only a small percentage of the world’s population understands sign language. That makes the chances of persons living with speech impediments meeting someone with whom they can have a meaningful and nuanced conversation very slim. In the long run, it means such persons have limited opportunities and avenues to express themselves and to make themselves heard. Sign-IO makes it possible by bridging the conversation divide and fostering more collaborations between individuals regardless of how they speak.