Providing a 'voice' to the voiceless

The glove works in many different languages and can even be programmed to learn your own words and nicknames, to give the product more of a personal feel.

The Bright Sign glove was showcasing at the Wearable Technology Show in London earlier this year, where Ayoub said the next step in the journey will be to gain NHS approval and send prototypes out to schools.

Although the glove is aimed for everyone of any age, it works really well for children.

Ayoub commented: “When children really get the hang of it they learn how much freedom they can really have.”

When Ayoub first had the idea she created the first version of the glove which made international headlines in which she explained it was a product with potential to improve communication between people with different disabilities.

Now Ayoub has made the second version of the BrightSign glove which turns hand motion into text and speech, with the new developments she looked into which textiles would be best with the product and teamed up with a smart textiles company.

The fabric had to meet a lot of requirements especially as children were a prime audience, therefore it had to ensure that all the electrics and sensors were completely covered and safe. Everything is covered in wool so it is 100% flame and fire proof if anything were to happen inside.

The glove uses an array of sensors that are built into each finger, in which the program processes the movements recorded into text which is then shown on the screen, placed on the back of the hand or spoken out loud.

The glove contains an on-board battery-powered single board computer, flex sensors and an accelerometer, when used in combination with the range of gestural and semantic analysis tools the users can generate and control a reliable speech just though a range if hand gestures.