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Successfully filed the complete Patent on: SYSTEM AND METHOD ENABLING AN INTERACTIVE WEARABLE AS AN EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT FOR HEARING IMPAIRED INDIVIDUALS
INVENTORS: Anupam Bhatia, Krishna Malhotra and Gouri Lekshminarayanan
APPLICANT: Symbiosis International University
A Brief introduction:
About 12,79,358 children all over India, in the age group of 5-19 years suffer from significant hearing loss. While 67% of them attend school, 21% have never had any formal education their entire lives (Census of India: Population Enumeration Data (Final Population), 2017). As per the census data of India 2011, almost three million of total population is speech and hearing impaired. According to the resources of National Association of Deaf (NAD), the sign language interpreters for the above population are only 254. ISL is used as an educational mode in only 6 out of 700 deaf schools in India, and therefore, only 0.5% of deaf children receive formal training in ISL.
Education for the hearing impaired has always been challenging. The association between written and spoken language has to be taught, and is not naturally acquired by a child, as is assumed in deaf education. The suggested solution is an educational supplement that helps a hearing impaired child to learn the alphabet, letter and word formation and build vocabulary through signing in Indian Sign Language. Its an interactive wearable system that uses visual, tactile and kinesthetic medium to reinforce finger spelling in the absence of a highly skilled instructor or teacher in ISL.