Bridging the Gap: Deep Learning Techniques for American Sign Language Recognition

Abstract: Communication stands upon the pillars of verbal and non-verbal conversations, and hence it holds the basis of human social relationships. Along with words, gestures are another component of nonverbal communication that achieves the purpose of conveying the intended sense and bridging the gab of the languages and cultures. People with speech or hearing problems usually read manual or verbal signs that often don't make sense to a hearing-challenged person. Gestures are the first sign of instruction that overcomes the speech gap. A kaleidoscopic patchwork of facial expressions comprising of facial movements and body language! Such variations occurring in linguistic areas overall are not surprising, as community cultures and tongues around the planet typically shape their language. In the United States and Canada, American Sign Language (ASL) is common and is an independent language from what is heard in the surrounding community but is also used as a way of communication between individuals and in groups that are deaf and hearing alike. There are some restrictions. Common language review and adequate practice are of crucial importance here, that is why it is so hard for deaf people to work outside. The accessibility of the translation tools decreases radically, which means it will be difficult to communicate, and it will further be hard to understand and to be understood. By integrating the AI technologies as neural networks and deep learning into the goals, the system will proceed to bridging various communication channels from manual writing to voice operation. The task goes with webcam installation together with gesture capture and then as an input it goes to the system. The proposed model will be divided into several stages namely, data acquisition, pre-training to the neural network, testing and the post-testing phases. This research project will do that through developing digital technology which in turn will enhance accessibility, encourage integration and let people who are film-blind or deaf to associate with the environment.