DAEJEON, June 4 (Korea Bizwire) — The state-run Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced on Wednesday that it had developed a sign language video to share COVID-19 prevention guidelines with hearing-impaired people.
In this video developed jointly with a sign language solution developer EQ4All, an avatar uses sign language to introduce the social distancing guidelines that the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters revealed, plus five COVID-19 prevention tips for individuals.
ETRI researchers used a deep learning translation engine to turn Korean sentences into sign language and then developed it into a sign language animation video.
The organization plans to develop a new engine which can automatically translate Korean words into sign language by using its deep learning technologies.
“Despite the increase in the number of COVID-19 related sign language videos in recent days, we still have difficulty catching up with real time news updates,” said Cho Hee-kyung, who is hearing impaired.
“I hope this technology can be widely and instantly prevalent, thereby enabling hearing-impaired people to get important information quickly.”
“We will go all-out to contribute to enhancing the information access of hearing-impaired people.” said Kim Heung-mook, head of ETRI’s Media Research Headquarters.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)