The German Youth Association of People with Hearing Loss and MRM//McCann have launched SIGNS, the first smart voice assistant solution for people with hearing loss worldwide.
SIGNS is a smart tool, that recognizes and translates sign language in real-time and then communicates directly with a selected voice assistant (Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or Microsoft Cortana).
In a world driven by voice commands for turning on lights, playing music or asking for the latest weather update, SIGNS brings inclusion to the digital age as around 466 million people worldwide are affected by hearing loss.
The smart tool is based on an intelligent machine learning framework trained to identify body gestures with the help of an integrated camera. These gestures are converted into a data format that the selected voice assistant understands. SIGNS works on any browser-based operating system that has an integrated camera (laptops, tablets).
https://vimeo.com/333247751
Based on the prediction from Gartner that the world will be dominated by 30% non-screen based digital interaction by 2020, SIGNS was developed in MRM//McCann’s product innovation LAB13 in Frankfurt am Main for the German Youth Association of People with Hearing Loss to create awareness for accessibility and inclusion in the digital age.
According to the World Health Organization around 466 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss, and 34 million of these are children. It is estimated that by 2050 over 900 million people will have disabling hearing loss.
“The digital age is full of great opportunities for inclusion but at the same time faces tough challenges for certain groups as we can see with voice assistants and people with hearing loss. SIGNS is a great step forward to allow us all the access to newest technologies,” said Michelle Mohring, 1. Chairwoman, German Youth Association of People with Hearing Loss.
“Our ambition is to help people with hearing loss and to facilitate access to new technologies, especially now as voice assistants are on the rise in our homes, our cars and in our leisure time. We have now launched the first prototype but our aim is to create an all accessible application, that can easily be trained worldwide by people affected by hearing loss. The next step in the project is to increase SIGNS’ vocabulary and teach it more languages – in cooperation with new partners around the world,” commented Martin Biela, ECD, MRM//McCann Frankfurt am Main.
CREDITS:
Agency: MRM//McCann Frankfurt am Main
Chief Creative Officer, Germany: Sebastian Hardieck
Executive Creative Director, Germany: Martin Biela
Executive Creative Director, Germany: Dushan Drakalski
Vice President Global, Product Innovation & LAB13: Dominik Heinrich
Director Creative Technology & LAB13, Germany: Mark Hollering
Group Creative Director UX: Jan Portz
Senior Copywriter / Concept & LAB13: Chris Endecott
IT Project Manager: Sebastian Klein
Senior Art Director: Jawad Saleem
Senior Motion Designer: Michael Klaiber
PR & Communications Director: Jerome Cholet
Trainee LAB13: Sofia Paz-Vivo
Junior Art Director: Irini Sidira
