12 09

By Nadia Zaifulizan

In our world today, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has contributed towards many major technological advancements for society. However, society is made up of a large number of people with diverse backgrounds, traits, and conditions. While each technological advancements may be advantageous for a majority of individuals, it may also be challenging for some to obtain the same level of benefits.

After decades of research and time investment, this era of AI developers are finally making progress in expanding the accessibility of facilities, amenities, and services to be more inclusive towards disabilities. We explore some of the latest technological advancements via AI for the disabled.

AI for the Hearing Impaired

The Microsoft Translator converts speech and audio into texts and captions for the hearing impaired. In Rochester Institute of Technology, academic lessons utilizes the AI-powered speech-to-text technology, which uses an advanced form of automatic speech recognition to transform raw language into comprehensible, punctuated and captioned text. Students are able to see and interpret information as if they are listening to the original speech, in real-time.
The AI Fitting to Outcomes eXpert (AI-FOX) is also an alternative to help people with hearing disabilities. It is an AI assistant that helps improve the functionality of the hearing receptor’s core functions by improving accuracy and compatibility of sound detection and discrimination, by the cochlear implants. Utilizing the AI, the best hearing implant fit can be predicted for the users, based on training data.

AI for the Vision Impaired

Microsoft’s Seeing AI narrates the images captured around the user. It is designed to translate images into text via the phone’s camera, and is specifically designed for the blind and low vision community. The AI describes people, text, and objects captured by the camera.
In addition, Project Ray via the Ray Vision app paired with the Ray click technology, provides full accessibility for the visually impaired to comprehend and use any touch device physically. The app provides voice recognition, audio feedback, text-to-speech services to ensure full accessibility.

What the Future Holds

Disabilities are dynamic and diverse. Many types of disabilities require different types of facilities and services. The attempt of matching the right facilities and services to its corresponding disability trait is ongoing, but with the advancements in AI technologies, these challenges can be addressed more effectively and the alternative solutions can be improved, for the betterment of technological and social accessibility.

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