A technology that translates spoken or written words into British Sign Language (BSL) has been developed by researchers at IBM that could be used to add sign language versions of your podcasts.

The system, called SiSi (Say It Sign It) was created by a group of students in the UK and will enable deaf people to have simultaneous sign language interpretations of meetings and presentations. Here’s a video demo of the product.

It uses speech recognition to animate a digital character or avatar.

IBM says its technology will allow for interpretation in situations where a human interpreter is not available.

It could also be used to provide automatic signing for television, radio and telephone calls.

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