#ENUscience: ENU scientist has developed an intelligent system for recognizing the Kazakh sign language

Nurzada Amangeldi, a lecturer of the Faculty of Information Technologies of the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, has devepoed an intelligent system for recognizing the Kazakh sign language. The unique development is designed for people with special needs.

ENU scientist Nurzada Amangeldi has worked on her research for 5 years. The scientific project is based on artificial intelligence and is designed for people with hearing and speech impairments. The uniqueness of this system is that it is adjusted to the Kazakh sign language. During the development of the system, Nurzada Amangeldi developed several variations of one gesture, which were divided into groups by components. The scientist has developed a model of an artificial neural system for each group.

“The system in the future will allow training sign language interpreters who know the sign alphabet and sign language. Such specialists are in demand today in various government organizations. Now we are developing a mobile application which will make it possible to communicate in sign language. We are planning to create a system that converts speech into gestures and vice versa. It is very important for me that, thanks to my development, people with special needs can comfortably study at school, receive services in medical and public institutions and communicate freely. My civic duty is to pursue this research and make my contribution intot it,” the scientist commented. 

According to the results of the research, the scientist received an author’s copyright and published three articles in world journals with a high rating. Last year, she won an internal grant from ENU “JANA ASU”.

“Upon the meeting with the Vice-President of the Public Association “Kazakhstan Society for the Deaf”, I learned about their problems in terms of children’s education. An intelligent simulator for teaching sign language of Kazakh and other languages is a need that can significantly help children with hearing impairments in the Kazakh society of the deaf. Such a learning system can provide children with effective communication tools, allowing them to learn sign language and learn to communicate with the world around them. A team of scientists from the USA and Kazakhstan has already started a number of studies in the field of education and access to it for people with hearing and speech problems in our country. We hope that our joint work will lead to a large research project that will be useful for this population group not only in Kazakhstan, but throughout Central Asia,” the ENU scientist noted, stressing that the goal of each scientific project is to help people, society, and the environment.   

The scientist plans to commercialize her scientific development. She has sent an application for participation in the competition of the Science Foundation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.