An Emergency Communication Framework for Indian Sign Language Machine Translation

Communication is one of the biggest challenges faced by Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing people during emergencies. In situations such as medical emergencies, road accidents, fire incidents, or police assistance, the absence of Indian Sign Language (ISL) interpreters can lead to misunderstanding, delayed response, and reduced quality of emergency care. Although several ISL translation systems have been developed, most are designed for general communication and do not specifically address emergency situations. The proposed framework aims to assist emergency service providers in delivering emergency information to Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing individuals through Indian Sign Language translation. The proposed system accepts text or speech input in English, Hindi, or Punjabi and processes it through language identification, emergency intent detection, sentence simplification, and ISL translation. The translated output is then converted into HamNoSys notation and Signing Gesture Markup Language (SiGML) to generate animated Indian Sign Language using a 3D virtual avatar. The proposed framework also includes an emergency vocabulary database, priority-based message processing, and confidence estimation to improve the reliability of translation. In addition, the framework is designed to support offline operation, making it suitable for hospitals, police stations, ambulances and emergency control rooms where continuous internet connectivity may not always be available. This paper describes the overall system architecture, major functional modules, translation workflow, and a methodology for future implementation and evaluation. The proposed framework aims to support faster, more accurate, and more accessible communication between emergency responders and the Deaf community, contributing to more inclusive emergency services in India.