After hearing professor Ting Li talk about her interesting research on the use of AR glasses for people struggling with impaired hearing, I started to research other innovative companies that leverage new technologies to help people who are impaired or disabled.
Firstly, my research brought me to a company called Envision. Through their glasses, which have a camera and a direct speaker, everyday visual information can be articulated into speech. By using generative AI, it speaks out text and environmental information and even recognizes face, light and colors. For blind or visually impaired people this is an amazing solution that could help them in their everyday life to experience more independency and perceive possibilities, without relying on other people.
Second, I came across Neuromersiv, a company that aims to empower stroke and brain injury survivors. Due to, among others, a lack of motivation for therapy, limited access to it or dependency on costly rehabilitation equipment, up to 66% of people don’t regain functional use of their affected upper limb(s) after a neurological injury. Neuromersiv aims to help those people with clinically designed virtual reality-based neurological rehabilitation solutions. For example, they offer VR glasses that immerse people in realistic environments where they can practice ordinary daily actions to build confidence and recover faster, while at the same time, the therapist can track their movements and progress.
A last company that I wanted to discuss is XR health, whose VR glasses can be used in several forms of therapy, such as cognitive, neuro or mental health therapy. Integrating VR into healthcare, this company aims to make therapies more effective, engaging, and accessible for patients across various medical fields. For for instance mental health therapy, the VR platform provides a safe and immersive setting for treating phobias, depression, anxiety, traumas and more, and so empowering the patient.
As I reflect on my research in these companies, I am happy to have found the ways in which technologies can be used for the people who need it the most. Looking into the future, I hope new inventions will lead to even more great solutions.
I think it’s also a great sign for the future that people with disabilities will have more aid / help in navigating life or recovering from injuries. I think it’s also especially interesting what you mentioned about VR glasses – I think this form of use of VR glasses makes so much more sense than the “fake play world” Metaverse ideas that don’t provide much value to the world (in my eyes). Using VR glasses to create settings in which people can train / practice for the “real world” is a use case that can be expanded infinitely – I am thinking of training for jobs, like mechanics, surgeons, veterinarians, etc. I am sure we will see much more of this in the future!