A Kenyan entrepreneur who designed an app that translates speech into sign language using AI-powered 3D avatars won the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation.
Mentioned in the article: this supports many african languages, including african sign languages. (There were plenty of apps that already did this for, say, ASL.)
Relatedly: it’s possible to be deaf and illiterate. Similar to being able to speak but not read, these folks are much better served by sign language translation over text. (I can’t find data on rates quickly, but see here for discussion of the general phenomena. It’s harder to teach the deaf to read, so easier for them to fall between the cracks.)
Mentioned in the article: this supports many african languages, including african sign languages. (There were plenty of apps that already did this for, say, ASL.)
Relatedly: it’s possible to be deaf and illiterate. Similar to being able to speak but not read, these folks are much better served by sign language translation over text. (I can’t find data on rates quickly, but see here for discussion of the general phenomena. It’s harder to teach the deaf to read, so easier for them to fall between the cracks.)