A groundbreaking synthetic interpreter developed by computer scientists at DePaul University’s School of Computer Science, Telecommunications and Information Systems (CTI) recently was honored with a national award.

The American Sign Language Project (ASL) recently was bestowed with a "Most Innovative Solution" award from the editors of Speech Technology Magazine. The award recognizes companies and institutions that have developed creative speech and service applications. The awards will be presented at a ceremony in New York City in October. DePaul is the only university among the list of 30 award winners, mostly composed of major technology companies.

The ASL Project at DePaul is "Paula," a computer-generated synthetic interpreter. Taking her name from the university where she was created, Paula uses speech recognition software and sophisticated computer animation to translate spoken English into American Sign Language (ASL), the language of the deaf in North America. The system works when a hearing person speaks through a headset, which is connected to the computer. The computer processes the command, and the animated figure of Paula translates it into ASL through hand gestures and facial expressions on the computer screen.

The project represents nearly five years of work from the ASL project team, which consists of eight or nine faculty and approximately ten graduate students at any given time.

For more background information on DePaul’s ASL Project or to see a demonstration, please visit http://asl.cs.depaul.edu.