Initial+Research

= __Facts and Research__ =

===Statistics on deaf populations is slim to none. Efforts to determine the population of the hearing impaired have found various results. Ratios ranging from 1:8 (1 in every 8 individuals of the population are deaf) to a 1:25 (1 in every 25 individuals of the population are deaf) have been reported in various surveys. The Canadian Association of the Deaf concludes that there are 310, 000 Canadians that are deaf.===

===Sign language is the communication method for individuals that are hearing impaired. As of the 2006 Statistics Canada Census, 28, 640 Canadians know sign language, 11, 050 of those are male and 17, 585 of those are female. Evidently, not even half of the deaf community know how to sign. This leads to the assumption that the population of individuals who are not hearing impaired and know sign language is minute. Suggesting the existence of a huge communication gap between the hearing impaired who do know sign language and the hearing abled.===

===The development of a technology that links the gap between individuals who are hearing impaired that use sign language to communicate and individuals who can hear but do not know sign language is detrimental to improve communication between various individuals within the community. In order to meet these needs, the H a n dLink team has been building a sign language translation device which translates sign language into text and speech to text.=== 

//References "Statistics on Deaf Canadians." Canadian Association of the Deaf. 26 May 2007. Web. 19 Mar. 2010. . //