sEditor: A Prototype for a Sign Language Interfacing System

• Published in: IEEE transactions on human-machine systems 2014-08, Vol.44 (4), p.499-510
• Main Authors: Beifang Yi, Xusheng Wang, Harris, Frederick C., Dascalu, Sergiu M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Artificial intelligence; Assistive technology; Biological system modeling; Body parts; Computer science; control theory; systems; Computer systems and distributed systems. User interface; Editors; Emotions; Exact sciences and technology; Gesture recognition; Graphical user interfaces; Human; human gesture simulation; interactive systems; Linguistics; Pattern recognition. Digital image processing. Computational geometry; Platforms; Pragmatics; Rendering (computer graphics); sign language; Software; Software engineering; Speech and sound recognition and synthesis. Linguistics; Virtual environments; Virtual humans; Visual
• ISSN: 2168-2291; 2168-2305
• DOI: 10.1109/TSMC.2014.2316743

Sign languages are as capable of expressing human thoughts and emotions as traditional (spoken) languages. The distinctive visual and spatial nature of sign languages makes it difficult to develop an interfacing system as a communication medium platform for sign language users. This paper targets this problem by presenting some explorations in the areas of computer graphics, interface design, and human-computer interaction with emphasis on software development and implementation. We propose a sign language interfacing system, as a working platform, that can be used to create virtual human body parts, simulate virtual gestures, and construct, manage, and edit sign language linguistic parts. It is expected that the system and the results presented in this paper would provide an example for the future sign language "editor."