Sign-speak, created by latina, translates sign language in real time

Payano traveled this week to Las Vegas, where the annual AWS convention is being held. This event is essential for technology developers, AI projects occupy the main topics.

Yamillet Payano, of Dominican descent, is one of the creative minds behind Sign-speak, a tool she has been developing since 2021. The application translates sign language to voice and text, and vice versa.

This Latina entrepreneur has brought to the table a tool for real inclusion for deaf or speech-disabled individuals, through an application based on Artijcial Intelligence (AI) that facilitates smooth and barrier-free conversations. The idea and motivation for Payano arose from observing the di-culties faced by her friend Nikolas Kelly, who is deaf from birth. Yamillet emphasized that the lack of interpreters in the United States and in different countries exacerbates this social problem.

At 27, the entrepreneur created a solution with the potential to help hearing-impaired individuals overcome obstacles in their daily lives.

The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) from the U.S. Census Bureau revealed that one in 20 Americans experiences hearing loss or deafness.

This means that around 10 million people in the country have hearing problems, and about one million are considered ‘functionally deaf’, according to this bureau.

Payano is convinced that her application will contribute to overcoming these barriers and empowering deaf individuals and those with hearing disabilities.

She highlighted that technology like hers allows these individuals to achieve their goals without speech di-culties being an obstacle.

“We create technology like this so that they can do whatever they want and ful ll their goals in life, and speech di culties are no longer a problem for them to develop,” explained the entrepreneur exclusively to EFE.