Sign Language Translation Systems

Abstract

Sign language, often termed “dactylology,” is a mode of communication for those who are hard of hearing. With over 2.5 billion people projected to have hearing loss by 2050, there are very few efficient real-time sign language translation (SLT) applications present today despite extensive research in the domain. The main purpose of the systematic literature review is to analyze existing research in SLT systems and obtain results that will help in building an efficient and improved SLT system. A total of 125 different research articles within the time frame of 2015–2022 were identified. The study analyzes each paper against nine main research questions. The results obtained show the unique strengths and weaknesses of the different methods used, and while the reviewed papers showed significant results, there is still room for improvement in the implementations. This systematic literature review helps in identifying suitable methods to develop an efficient SLT application, identifies research gaps in this domain, and simultaneously indicates recent trends in the field of SLT systems.