Improved Recognition of Kurdish Sign Language Using Modified CNN

Abstract

The deaf society supports Sign Language Recognition (SLR) since it is used to educate individuals in communication, education, and socialization. In this study, the results of using the modified Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) technique to develop a model for real-time Kurdish sign recognition are presented. Recognizing the Kurdish alphabet is the primary focus of this investigation. Using a variety of activation functions over several iterations, the model was trained and then used to make predictions on the KuSL2023 dataset. There are a total of 71,400 pictures in the dataset, drawn from two separate sources, representing the 34 sign languages and alphabets used by the Kurds. A large collection of real user images is used to evaluate the accuracy of the suggested strategy. A novel Kurdish Sign Language (KuSL) model for classification is presented in this research. Furthermore, the hand region must be identified in a picture with a complex backdrop, including lighting, ambience, and image color changes of varying intensities. Using a genuine public dataset, real-time classification, and personal independence while maintaining high classification accuracy, the proposed technique is an improvement over previous research on KuSL detection. The collected findings demonstrate that the performance of the proposed system offers improvements, with an average training accuracy of 99.05% for both classification and prediction models. Compared to earlier research on KuSL, these outcomes indicate very strong performance.

Keywords

• sign language recognition (SLR)
• Kurdish alphabet
• Kurdish sign language (KuSL)
• real-time recognition
• CNN
• gesture recognition hand shape