Google Glass has a new app, called SMARTSign, that makes communication much easier between parents and their children that are hearing-impaired.
Glass wearers can learn American Sign Language (ASL) through the SMARTSign app developed by Kim Xu and one of her professors. Xu is a recent Ph.D. graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology with a degree in Human-Centered Computing.
The app brings up sign language quizzes to the Google Glass in several intervals all throughout the day. The wearer can set the time and the frequency on receiving the quizzes. In the quiz, the wearer views the video of a featured sign. Then he selects the correct answer from the given list of choices.
Xu explains that the app is intended for parents of children that are deaf and hearing-impaired. However, the simple vocabulary quiz produced by the app can also come in handy when parents would want to teach sign language to their children that have no hearing impairment.
Android users can also access the new SMARTSign app. Aside from getting quizzes, Android users can look for signs by voice or text input. The app will then show a demo video on how to sign the word. Moreover, it has a record feature that allows users to watch their own signing and compare it with the sample video.
Xu further added that the Glass app will provide supplementary features to the Android app, giving parents more time to hone their skills in signing.
Compared with using the phone, Xu expressed that people would be wearing the Glass all the time which enables them to take in as many lessons as they can in a day.
Currently, the Glass app only has the quiz part of the SMARTSign app. In the future, Xu hopes that the record-and-search features would also be included.
