AT first, you might think “I Hear U” is just a textspeak, sounding hip especially for today’s text generation. But I Hear U somewhere in Palawan is beyond that. It is an android mobile application to help persons with hearing impairment learn the ropes on finger spelling or communicating using alpha and numerical systems through hand gestures.
While most teens are busy posting status messages and selfies, Marian Elaine Dechaves and Charmaine Aubrey Galindez are doing something more serious for their age. They hang out longer on their computers, not to post their outfits of the day, throwback Thursday photos and hashtags, rather, they are writing program codes which someday could become huge, especially in the age of the Internet of Things.
At the celebration of the Regional Invention Contests and Exhibits, which coincided with the Southern Luzon Cluster Science and Technology Fair held in Puerto Princesa City Coliseum in Puerto Prinsesa City, Palawan, schoolmates Dechaves and Galidez of Bansud National High School-Regional Science High School for Mimaropa presented their official entry in the Department of Science and Technology-sponsored invention contest. Mimaropa stands for the region that includes the provinces of Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan.
I Hear U is an ingenious brand name to relay its service as a two-way communication app for persons with hearing disability. The app is basically an instant messaging system with icons showing the various dactyl or hand gestures representing letters and numerals to spell-out words to relay messages.
From its main menu, users can choose from Normal or Deaf configurations. The Deaf option shows a keypad with various finger-gesture icons with its equivalent alphabet subscripts.
The user then types in the desired message using the dactyl alphabets and send it through the phone’s built-in Bluetooth file-transferring device. The recipient then receives the message in pure alphabet characters. Dechaves explained that, originally, the person on the other phone would receive the message in dactyl icons. However, intended end-users prefer to receive the normal apha-numeric characters rather than the icons.
The application is still on its early stage, and Dechaves says that its SMS capability will follow further in the development stage.
The data transfer using Bluetooth technology can reach up to 10 meters only. And since the messages are transferred using Bluetooth technology, Galindez explained that the phones need to be paired every time the app is used. Although I Hear U is still on its development stage, the duo gets a lot of advice from random users on how to improve their invention.
Surprisingly, both Dechaves and Galidez are still in their teens and too early for them to mind real-world problems. However, the two already recognize the needs of some underserved communities in the country.
“We developed this app because we noticed that the majority of apps cater only to the typical type of consumer, and we want an app that will address the needs of persons with special needs,” Dechaves said.
Despite their hardly being experts in programming, the two persisted in their project. According to Dechaves, she learned about programming or writing codes only a few months back.
“I just taught myself to code,” Dechaves said.
Similarly, Galindez said programming was more of a hobby for her.
“We get to learn to code using the Ai2Live Complete software, which gives us the needed tutorials,” Galindez said. Besides coding algorithms for the app, the two also learned the nitty-gritty of designs. Dechaves explained that she consciously picked fonts and colors that match the preferences of intended clients.
Joy M. Lazcano/S&T Media Service