Data Glove with Bending Sensor and Inertial Sensor Based on Weighted DTW Fusion for Sign Language Recognition

Abstract

There are numerous communication barriers between people with and without hearing impairments. Writing and sign language are the most common modes of communication. However, written communication takes a long time. Furthermore, because sign language is difficult to learn, few people understand it. It is difficult to communicate between hearing-impaired people and hearing people because of these issues. In this research, we built the Sign-Glove system to recognize sign language, a device that combines a bend sensor and WonderSense (an inertial sensor node). The bending sensor was used to recognize the hand shape, and WonderSense was used to recognize the hand motion. The system collects a more comprehensive sign language feature. Following that, we built a weighted DTW fusion multi-sensor. This algorithm helps us to combine the shape and movement of the hand to recognize sign language. The weight assignment takes into account the feature contributions of the sensors to further improve the recognition rate. In addition, a set of interfaces was created to display the meaning of sign language words. The experiment chose twenty sign language words that are essential for hearing-impaired people in critical situations. The accuracy and recognition rate of the system were also assessed.