Connection despite a communication barrier.
Deaf people often lack a sense of connection with others and are excluded from social and communicative exchange. Digital technologies can break down barriers between hearing and deaf people and support communication in both directions.
An emergency call in sign language.
BIGEKO is building a system that enables barrier-free communication between hearing and deaf people. The practical application scenario is emergency call transmission: users make an emergency call using sign language and establish a connection to a rescue control centre.
In a simulated emergency call, the project researches sign recognition, translation and animation. The system translates signing into spoken language for the control centre — and conversely visualises the spoken replies. In this way BIGEKO strengthens trust, safety and quality of life for deaf people.
Recognising emotion in signing.
Camera systems capture signing and detect not only gestures but also the emotions expressed in them. The result is a real-time sign language translation system that can be developed into an interactive web service in the medium term.
Charamel coordinates the collaborative project together with Yomma, Centigrade, DFKI, the University of Augsburg and the University of Cologne.