A new sign language tool has been developed by the University of the South Pacific to support people living with hearing impairment.

The new sign language self-learning tool has been handed over to the Fiji Association for the Deaf at the Fiji National Council for Persons with Disabilities.

Innovator and graduate engineer Vineet Prasad says the tool is fully adaptable, where new signs can be incorporated and more versions can be created in the future.

Dr Utkal Mehta, the principal researcher says this is an example of innovation and entrepreneurship, when our youth take responsibility to solve issues for our society.

He noted that the presence of this video library will definitely provide extra support to our impaired learners and will add to the improvement of quality education.

The new sign language e-tool is the third such innovation by USP’s FSTE.

The first was an Eye-Cane, a device used by the visually impaired to help accurately guide their movement.

The second innovation, Braille Eye-Slate, was presented to the Fiji School of Blind, a small device that helps visually impaired children learn braille language.