14 |1 AUGUST^2019 http://www.drum.co.za

 G

ROWING up, he wanted
one thing – to have a
proper conversation
with his parents, hear
what they had to say
and tell them what was
going on in his life.
But he couldn’t. Lucky
Netshidzati’s parents are hearing-
impaired – his dad, Abraham (51), is pro-
foundly deaf and unable to speak while
his mom, Selinah (45), is partially deaf
and battles to cope in the hearing world.
Lucky (26) was frustrated by his inabil-
ity to communicate with them and re-
sentful about how his beloved parents
couldn’t do many things for themselves
without the help of an interpreter.
Yet, out of frustration, good things can
arise. In Lucky’s case he’s come up with
a potential game changer for the deaf: a
uniquely African system that’s generat-
ing plenty of interest from both the gov-
ernment and private enterprise.
His brainchild is Communi*Care Glove
Sensors, an ingenious device designed to
facilitate communication between the
hearing impaired and those who are able
to hear.
Lucky is brimming with excitement as
he tells DRUM about his product when
we meet at a Pretoria restaurant.
It’s based on communication between
a special sign-language glove and a mo-
bile app that Lucky developed. The glove
has flex sensors that detect hand posi-
tion and movement and it sends data to
the app wirelessly via Bluetooth, the in-
ternet or a SIM card.
If the input matches a gesture, the
associated word or phrase is spoken
through the mobile app.
A deaf person might gesture, “How are
you?” in sign language, for example,
and the listener will hear the words,
“How are you?” through the phone’s
speaker as the app converts the
movement into speech.
It also works both ways. “The
hearing person can speak through
the app. It will detect your voice
and translate what you’re saying
into an animation of South African
sign language for the deaf person to
see,” Lucky explains.
He says his system can also be
used when making phone calls.
“If I’m talking to a deaf person,
they’ll see the animation on their
screen. If I’m a hearing person, I’ll
hear the voice when a deaf person

Lucky Netshidzati, the invento

of Communi*Care Glove Sens

BELOW: The prototype gloveo

left translates sign languaget

while the one on the righttran

sign language to spoken word

be combined into one glovefo

Lucky has created an

app that works hand

in hand with sensor

gloves to help deaf

people communicate

BY LESEGO MAJA

PICTURES: SHARON SERETLO

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