A new app developed by two college students in Beijing is looking to help lend a hand to the nation's deaf.
"Shouyin," an app interprets sign language in real time, is the brainchild of two students at Beihang University.
Paired with a smart bracelet, Shouyin (the Chinese for "hand-sounds") can detect and translate more than 200 common signs.
Co-creator Wang Nana, 23, said she was first inspired to develop the app in 2015 for a deaf friend whom she could only communicate with through texting.
Wang, along with roommate and co-creator Huang Shuang, decided to pursue the project.
Though similar technologies have existed for years, such as MotionSavvy's Uni and Google Chat's sign language interpreter, the app is sure to find a welcoming user base in China.
There are more than 70 million deaf people in China, or 5 percent of the total population, China Youth Daily reported.
