SpeakEasy: A Tool for People with Communication Disabilities

SpeakEasy: A Tool for People with Communication Disabilities

  IJETT-book-cover           
  
© 2025 by IJETT Journal
Volume-73 Issue-3
Year of Publication : 2025
Author : Vijay Shelake, Sujata Deshmukh, Max Gonsalves, Vedant Chawardol, Saville Dsilva, Ivan Dsouza
DOI : 10.14445/22315381/IJETT-V73I3P102

How to Cite?
Vijay Shelake, Sujata Deshmukh, Max Gonsalves, Vedant Chawardol, Saville Dsilva, Ivan Dsouza, "SpeakEasy: A Tool for People with Communication Disabilities," International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology, vol. 73, no. 3, pp. 13-21, 2025. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/22315381/IJETT-V73I3P102

Abstract
In this era of digitalization, where everyone is connected, people with communication disabilities may find it difficult to fully participate and engage in interactions. This paper aims to deliver an AI-powered communication system that fulfils the needs of individuals with communication disabilities. It provides the facility to convert Indian Sign Language (ISL) to text and speech in a regional language, providing inclusivity. It will empower people with verbal communication disabilities by breaking the barriers put up by sign language and help them express themselves to others without any restraint. The ultimate purpose of this tool is to create a more inclusive society wherein communication barriers are eliminated for individuals with disabilities. The MediaPipe Holistic Library is used to map key points and extract data for prediction to facilitate the conversion of sign language to text. A sequential framework along with an LSTM and Dense layer is incorporated to identify the signs by action recognition. Once a prediction has been made, a text prompt and audio of the predicted text are played. Through this chain of processes, it is possible to develop a multi-feature Sign Language Recognition system.

Keywords
Communication disabilities, Indian Sign Language, MediaPipe, Neural network, Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM).

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