Coming soon: Gloves that turn gestures into speech

WASHINGTON: Researchers have developed a set of gloves that turn hand gestures into speech using computer technology, offering hope to millions of speech-impaired people to communicate better.
The device consists of a set of sensors, an accelerometre, compass, gyroscope and flex sensors in the fingers, which translate movement into signals that a computer converts into speech. The person wearing the gloves draws a shape in the air and that information is transmitted to them via bluetooth to a smartphone, which matches the shape up against a set stored in memory. A match produces a sound.
The gloves were designed by Pasternikov Anton, Osika Maksim, Yasakov Valeriy and Stepanov Anton, researchers at the Donetsk branch of the 'Step' Computer Academy.
However, the device has certain limitations. Firstly, the gestures stored in the computer are not yet sign language. Morover, sign language is as complex as any other language, and differs from one country to another. So far, the system can only read a dozen or so movements.
Another challenge is durability and usefulness. Most people, deaf or not, don't walk around wearing gloves.

World's first bionic eye helps woman gain sight

MELBOURNE: A blind Australian woman can now see spots of light after being implanted with an early prototype of the world's first bionic eye.
Dianne Ashworth, 54, was the first patient fitted with the device in surgery at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in May, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
It was switched on last month at the Bionics Institute in East Melbourne after her eye had recovered fully from surgery.
"All of a sudden I could see a little flash ... it was amazing. Every time there was stimulation there was a different shape that appeared in front of my eye," Ashworth was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.
In the bionic eye, electrodes are inserted into the retina of vision-impaired patients. The electrodes send electrical impulses to nerve cells in the eye, which occur naturally in people with normal vision.
The device restores mild vision, where patients are able to pick up major contrasts and edges such as light and dark objects. Researchers hope to develop it so blind patients can achieve independent mobility.
In the early prototype bionic eye, the electrodes are connected to a receptor fitted to the back of Ashworth's ear, which is then plugged in through an external wire to a unit in the laboratory.
Australian researchers in the laboratory use the unit to control the information sent to Ashworth's eye, allowing them to study how the brain reacts.
Feedback from Ashworth will allow researchers to develop a vision processor so they can build images using flashes of light.
Bionics Institute director Rob Shepherd said the next step was to test various levels of electrical stimulation. "We are working with Ashworth to determine exactly what she sees each time the retina is stimulated using a purpose-built laboratory at the Bionics Institute," Shepherd said.
"The team is looking for consistency of shapes, brightness, size and location of flashes to determine how the brain interprets this information. Having this unique information will allow us to maximise our technology as it evolves through 2013 and 2014," Shepherd added.

Operation relief for man with bulging heart

MUMBAI: Until a month ago, 28-year-old Vishnu Yadav was scared to hear his own heartbeat. "I would feel as though my heart was trying to pop out. If I stood against a wall, one could hear it beat rapidly," said the mithai-maker from a small village in Bihar.

The reason for his unusual heartbeat was a rarest of rare complication: an oversized bulge emerging from one of his heart's chambers. It took heart surgeon Ramakant Panda five hours to surgically sort out Yadav's problem at Asian Heart Institute in Bandra-Kurla Complex.

"He had an aneurysm emerging from his left ventricle. While this in itself is rare for someone so young, what was surprising was the fact that the aneurysm was more than five times the size of his heart," said Dr Panda. The operation, he said, was as complex as doing a second bypass heart surgery, which is considered the most difficult of all cardiac surgeries.

Aneurysms are balloon-like structures that develop from the wall of an artery; they are so thin that they can fatally rupture in some cases. "When we opened his chest, we were shocked to find that the aneurysm stretched from the liver to the spleen. His heart was, in fact, pushed into a corner," said Dr Panda.

Doctors concluded that Yadav had an aneurysm from his birth. However, it started bulging out a few months ago when he lifted something heavy during a family function at his village, Kamlawadi Arraha. He started feeling breathless, giddy and weak. "I went to various local doctors for two to three months, but in vain."

Yadav came to Mumbai after an altercation with his family members. "My younger brother, who lives in Mahim, was initially upset that I had dropped in. However, he took me to J J Hospital in Byculla," said Yadav.

J J Hospital's cardiologist Anil Kumar, who treated Yadav, said: "Aneurysms from the left ventricle occur among patients who have had a heart attack, but Yadav had healthy arteries. Yet, he had one of the biggest aneurysms I have seen in 20 years."

The family was asked to consult Dr Panda, who agreed to operate on Yadav for free. "I can breathe and walk freely and plan to return home in a couple of months," said Yadav.