{"id":4053,"date":"2023-06-26T08:34:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T08:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationisrael.org.il\/en\/?post_type=article&p=4053"},"modified":"2023-11-15T11:42:36","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T11:42:36","slug":"on-understanding-and-accessibility","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/innovationisrael.org.il\/en\/article\/on-understanding-and-accessibility\/","title":{"rendered":"On Understanding and Accessibility"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Approximately 20% of the world’s population suffer from some form of disability. Innovative technological developments, designed with the support of the Israel Innovation Authority, allow these people access to different services and to enjoy a better quality of life despite their disability. Step Hear<\/strong>‘s smart app helps the blind and visually impaired find their way around different businesses, use public transportation, and to function in different places with the help of a unique audio sign; the Sesame Enable<\/strong> corporation has developed a unique technology that allows the disabled to use and control a smartphone or tablet via head movements; the ReSymmetry<\/strong> corporation has developed HEALY<\/strong> \u2013 a smart robotic chair that gathers physiological data on the person sitting in it and adjusts its posture to his condition. The chair aims to prevent a deterioration in the medical condition of mobility impaired people in need of a wheelchair.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Assistive technology has the potential to dramatically change the lives of people with disabilities and enable them to enjoy a healthy, independent, and dignified life while integrating in and contributing to all areas of life: employment, education, recreation etc.” says Patricia Lahy-Engel, Senior Director of Social R&D of the Innovation Authority. “The Innovation Authority supports these technological developments as part of the ‘Assistive-tech’ Program which focuses on assistive technologies for the disabled \u2013 in conjunction with National Insurance funds.”  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Creating an Accessible Audio Route Through the Public Domain<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

“The best way to provide visually impaired people with a sense of security in the public domain is by activating an audio sign,” explains Shiran Hermon<\/strong>, Global Marketing & BizDev Manager at Step-Hear<\/a> Ltd., a subsidiary company of Mehalev, that was founded a decade ago with the aim of designing technological solutions for the blind and visually impaired. “We have developed a fixed loudspeaker that operates with an app or that is activated wirelessly when a person enters a bank, hospital, bus-stop etc. and lets him know exactly where he is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The company was originally founded to provide solutions for people with vision impediments but today offers more general solutions for a range of problems. Some of our achievements have been in the field of public transport. We successfully led a pilot together with the Ministry of Transport and the current goal is for full nationwide assimilation in the public transportation system. Earlier this year we received a certificate of appreciation from a project called “Zero Project” for our smart technology in the field of accessibility. We operate in Russia, Romania, Australia, Germany, the US, Poland, Turkey, and France and are continuing in our worldwide efforts towards global distribution,” Hermon says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Step Hear system is based on an app operated by the disabled user. The audio sign is installed by businesses interested in making its service accessible. The business owner can also decide whether to add elements from existing systems to the audio sign in order to make them accessible. Apart from the audio sign that explains the user’s surroundings to him, the app also includes an internal compass capable of providing audio information about things in the surrounding area according to changes in the direction the telephone is held. For example, after passing the audio sign to the relevant department at Assaf HaRofeh Hospital, the app will inform the user that “the nurses’ station is located to your right” or that “the patient wards are 20 steps in front of you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The communication between the sign affixed above the door, the ATM, or any other interactive site and the user is transmitted easily via a free-of -charge app on a smartphone or a specially designed sign for the blind,” clarifies Yishai Hatzir, the company’s R&D and Operations Manager. “The local authority or business pays a monthly or yearly licensing fee. The system’s operation is simple \u2013 the user can choose whether to listen to the information via an earphone, a smartphone, or a loudspeaker installed at the business’s premises.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Independent Mobility Improves the Quality of Life<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In the field of public transport, our development enables communication and connection between the driver and passenger and, thereby, improve accessibility. For example, when the user approaches the bus-stop, he can activate the audio sign and listen to a list of all the different transportation lines’ arrival times or send a message to the driver that he is waiting for the bus. “The pilot, conducted with the funding of the Ministry of Transport, won us the Simcha Lustig Access Israel Prize,” Hatzir says proudly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bus drivers participating in the project are also satisfied with the system. The impact is expressed on several levels. The system gives disabled people independence and allows them to leave home, to work, and to spend time in leisure and recreational activities. Those experimenting with the system have defined it as having significant life-changing potential. Furthermore, assimilation of the development in the public domain conveys an important social message for adults and children who can see the state investing effort and resources in order to assist disabled populations in the public domain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are happy to be part of the technological future and aspire to lead a revolution by becoming a type of WAZE for people with disabilities,” says Hatzir. “The initiative was born thanks to the grants we received from the Innovation Authority. The Authority’s support is not only financial. Its reputation has helped us open the doors among international entities or at the Ministry of Transport and serves as a certificate of esteem or proof of reliability, helping us to dramatically expedite many bureaucratic processes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Technology that Overcomes the Obstacle of Touch<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Sesame Enable <\/a>corporation was founded in order to provide a solution for disabled people who have difficulty using touch technology. “Our technology overcomes the touch obstacle,” says Rowee Benbenishty<\/strong>, the company’s CEO. “We have developed a unique technology that uses the device’s camera to track the user’s face, thereby giving him complete control over the device via the movements of his head. The company’s vision is to lead assistive technology as a bridge between people’s existing physical capabilities and the needs of technology. In other words, our goal is to create an alternative means to communicate with and consume information from a smartphone, tablet or computer for anyone unable to touch them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The technological development is based on a game that that Oded Ben Dov<\/strong>, the company’s CTO, promoted at a previous company. The game, operated by means of hand and head movements, was presented on the ‘Tzinor Layla’ technology oriented TV program. The following morning, Oded received a telephone call from someone by the name of Giora \u2013 an engineer suffering from a spinal injury \u2013 who asked him to create him a mobile phone that he could use. A meeting between the two gave rise to the recognition of this technology’s value for people in Giora’s condition and they applied for one of the Innovation Authority’s programs in order to prove the feasibility of a design based on this technology and to embark upon its initial development,” Benbenishty explains. “Since then, we have advanced and two years ago we opened a subsidiary company in the US that engages in marketing and sales.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initial technological solution was based on a smartphone’s existing inbuilt front camera \u2013 the selfie camera. Even today, the app uses this camera for face recognition. It tracks head movement and provides a cursor on the screen with which the device can be used without the need for any direct touch. “The app is adapted to Android and Windows-based devices, and we also know how to make it accessible in other technologies, to add it to an existing product or to use it on different websites. This means that today our solution is not limited to a specific operating system but rather, is a complete solution that protects the user’s privacy while allowing full freedom of action,” Benbenishty explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning on the Camera and Surfing the Web Without Touch<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Adapting the app to Windows was made possible thanks to the third Innovation Authority program that Sesame Enable participated in as part of the ‘Assistive-tech’ program. “Several months ago, we began offering Sesame Enable as a head movement tracking service on internet websites,” Benbenishty says. “The user can automatically turn on the camera and use the website without touch. When the camera turns on, it identifies a face and a cursor appears on the screen, with the mouse moving according to the user’s head movements. If the cursor stands still, an action is performed, or a menu appears that allows a specific action to be selected. Voice identification, accessibility tabs and other accessibility services can also be integrated. The website can be operated without any touch or the need to install another app. Companies operating in the field of accessibility can add our solution to the services they offer \u2013 and that is where we are currently focusing our efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The app can be downloaded anywhere in the world. We even have users in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Australia. The Israeli market is small and from the outset we realized the need to expand abroad. That is why we chose to conduct our marketing and sales operations abroad even though the product itself is developed in Israel, a decision that necessitates large budgets that a company such as ours simply doesn’t possess in the initial development stages,” says Benbenishty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sesame Enable receives emotional feedback from its users. People, who due to their injury, completely lost their social independence, can now progress to the stage whereby they have full control over and interaction with technology, friends and family. For them, the ability to make a private phone call alone is not something to be taken for granted. “We have users who, thanks to our application, can read books or watch movies again. Some are children who can suddenly use Facebook or receive homework just like the other kids in the class,” Benbenishty describes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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