Telangana: Teacher designs smart helmet to help hearing-impaired motorists

Interacting with Telangana Today Rajalipasha said he often read news of deaf and dumb persons dying in road accidents and one of his deaf and dumb friends died in a road accident as a vehicle hit his bike from behind. He also broke one of his hands in an accident in 2018.

Khammam: Moved at the plight of hearing impaired motorists who often face accidents as they cannot hear the horn sound of vehicles behind, an innovator has designed a smart helmet, which assists motorists in safe driving.

A hearing impaired and orthopaedically handicapped man, Shaik Rajalipasha of Subhash Nagar of Yellandu mandal in Kothagudem district is the innovator who designed the helmet. He is working as a school assistant at Zilla Parishad High School, Gollapadu, Polepalli in Khammam. Though he cannot hear he is not speech impaired.

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He designed the smart helmet as part of Telangana government’s Intinta Innovator campaign undertaken by Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC) and launched by IT minister KT Rama Rao aiming at promoting innovation among rural students and youths across the State.

Interacting with Telangana Today Rajalipasha said he often read news of deaf and dumb persons dying in road accidents and one of his deaf and dumb friends died in a road accident as a vehicle hit his bike from behind. He also broke one of his hands in an accident in 2018.

“Those incidents inspired me to design a helmet with a safety feature that can assist hearing-impaired persons and to save their lives. I started working on making the helmet in 2021 by procuring the material required online. I used computer spare parts and it took nearly two years to make the helmet 100 per cent functional by examining about 50 types of electronic devices”, Rajalipasha said.
When a deaf and dumb person rides a two-wheeler wearing the smart helmet, a red light on the front of the helmet lights up when the vehicles behind them honk. Seeing the light, the bike rider can know there is a vehicle coming behind them. They look at the side mirrors and give way to the vehicle behind.

This helmet works on the basis of sound and radio waves coming from the rear vehicle’s horn. There is a light and with deaf and dumb signs on the back of the helmet to indicate a bike rider the vehicle in front is driven by a hearing-impaired man. The helmet also helps deaf and dumb persons get a driving license, he explained.

Rajalipasgha informed that the TSIC selected the helmet for Intinta Innovator Exhibition-2023 and presented him a certificate of appreciation. The TSIC also provided the required assistance and guidance. He said that if the government supports him he can make the helmet available to all hearing impaired persons.