Most apps out there meant to empower disabled individuals, but they always require effort only from the disabled individuals. Our app flips the rules, and it is now the community that must put in the effort towards bridging the communication gaps.
Our app converts audio to ASL so that friends and family of the hearing impaired may use it to sign on-the-spot and communicate with their loved one. It also converts text to speech, with recommendation algorithms trained with scholarly datasets in order to easily suggest vocabulary during conversations for the speech-impaired, to enable them to have smooth conversations in professional and academic settings.
Our app was developed entirely on Flutter, via Android Studio. We brainstormed as a team, set our vision and implemented the code using available APIs.
To us, flutter was completely new, and this was our first hackathon, so understanding the dependencies and descriptions were challenging. Some technical challenges we faced:
- Enabling audio record permissions on a virtual device
- Combining 2 APIs together (for speech to text, then text to ASL conversion)
We were able to innovate an idea that empowers the disabled in the true sense of the word, and that is something we are proud of. Creating a partially functional prototype, whose function holds a greater message was a wholesome experience.
We learnt about Flutter Framework, the existing APIs and their integration as well as just the journey of staying together as a team.
So much. Once the app interface is developed fully and deployed, we wonder how many people would be an active part of using sign language to communicate with those who prefer sign language, usually the hearing impaired. We also look forward to expanding our ideas towards other groups, and developing stronger frameworks.
- android-studio
- dart
- flutter
- google-virtual-keyboard
- speech-to-text
- text-to-speech