Gallaudet University unveils augmented reality football helmets for deaf players

Washington’s Gallaudet University, for deaf and hard of hearing students, deployed a one-of-a-kind augmented reality (AR) 5G helmet in its football game Saturday to help coaches communicate better with players.

So far, only hand signals were used in Gallaudet’s games, but this proved problematic since the running player might miss them.

Developed in collaboration with AT&T, the new helmet has a small half-circle screen attached to the right top of it, which will relay the messages coaches convey through a tablet, using 5G technology.

Why is it a big deal?
The helmet could be adopted into the NFL like the famous ‘huddle’—developed by Gallaudet’s quarterback Paul Hubbard in 1894 to ensure other team players don’t see their American Sign Language conversations.

One-way radio communication helmets are common in the NFL with quarterbacks and defensive players using them to receive plays from the coaches.