Computer Science & Engineering
Innovative Projects - Prototypes
EchoBand
EchoBand: An Inclusive Wearable for Deaf-Blind Communication Using Hierarchical Haptic Encoding and Edge AI — Advancing SDG 3 (Health & Well-being) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities)
Deaf-blind individuals face one of the most severe forms of communication isolation due to the simultaneous loss of hearing and vision. Conventional assistive technologies such as Braille devices, sign language interpreters, and gesture recognition systems either depend on residual sensory ability, require literacy, or are inaccessible in real-time, especially in low-resource or offline environments. These limitations restrict independence, reduce social participation, and hinder access to essential services such as healthcare, education, and emergency response.
India alone has over 5 lakh individuals with dual sensory impairment, yet there is a critical lack of inclusive, scalable, and affordable communication solutions tailored to their unique needs. Most global and national assistive technologies rely on visual interfaces, auditory cues, or cloud-based processing—making them impractical for deaf-blind users in rural or underserved settings.
EchoBand addresses this challenge by providing a wearable device that translates spoken language into a structured tactile code using Hierarchical Haptic Encoding and Edge AI-based speech recognition. It enables real-time, autonomous communication without requiring sight, hearing, or internet connectivity. The system is designed to be low-cost, multilingual, and adaptive to individual users—offering a transformative solution for one of the most underserved and vulnerable populations.