Talksign, a Nigeria- and UK-based artificial intelligence (AI) research and product company, has launched two AI-powered models that enable real-time translation between American Sign Language (ASL) and text or speech.
Palm 1.0 interprets ASL into text or speech with 84.2% semantic accuracy, while Echo 1.0 converts written or spoken language into photorealistic ASL video, generating avatars in real time with minimal delay.
The two translators, launched on May 20, build on Talksign’s first foundation model, Talksign-1, introduced in February, which provided basic bidirectional communication by translating 250 ASL signs into speech or text and converting spoken or typed words into sign language video sequences.
Talksign-1, however, was limited to isolated signs and could not interpret continuous sentences or fingerspelling, a limitation that Palm 1.0 and Echo 1.0 aim to overcome.
The launch comes as part of a growing effort to address a global communication gap affecting millions of people with hearing loss. According to the World Health Organisation, over 430 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss, and tens of millions use sign language as their primary mode of communication.
