From my hand to your ears
Marc S. Lavine · Science · 2020
Electronics Sign language—in the form of hand, face, and body gestures—is a broadly used technique for communicating with people who are partially or fully deaf. However, most nondeaf people do not know sign language, making communication between the two groups challenging. Zhou et al. developed a wearable device that can convert hand motions or facial expressions into sound. At its core are two dissimilar soft materials with opposite triboelectric polarizations woven into a yarn that can effectively convert a small tensile force or pressure into electricity. Thus, finger or facial movements generate specific voltage pulses that can be recognized as individual letters or words or phrases. Nat. Electron. 10.1038/s41928-020-0428-6 (2020).