Creating an instant, mutually understandable communication link between hearing people and the hearing-impaired world is a lofty goal that is actually more challenging than one might think. There are plenty of hearing impaired people who have never learned sign language, and asking a hearing-impaired person to simply write down his thoughts presents many limitations. The Texting Glove invented by Google developers Oleg Imanilov, Tomer Daniel and Zvika Markfeld might be the simple yet sophisticated link between the hearing and non-hearing worlds.

The gesture-sensing glove instantly translates sign language into text through an Android phone. It is equipped with an accelerometer, finger sensors, a gyroscope and Lilypad Arduino to interpret hand signals. Although the current iteration only allows for the interpretation to run through an Android phone, the concept is incredibly promising. It could be used for a variety of applications, including live translation of sign language speeches before a crowd without the need for a human interpreter.