RightHear provides talking signage so that everyone can interpret and understand their surroundings in real-time. Idan Meir, Co-Founder & CEO of RightHear, and Gil Elgrably, Co-Founder and CTO are the masterminds behind it, turning public spaces into accessible environments for blind and visually impaired people.
Creating An Inclusive Environment
According to reports published in World Health Organization (WHO), there are 2.2 billion people in this world who have a visual impairment which is about 28% of the world population. This may help us predict the everyday struggle for them to try and negotiate sidewalks, offices, hotels, airports, restaurants, public transport, and every single new place for them.
RightHear can turn all these public spaces accessible as any venue can install the discreet beacons customized to provide audio descriptions of their unique space. As an example, a restaurant can specify the beginning of the Queue for the order counter, or they can make the menu accessible in an audio format. The descriptions are automatically received by a free-of-charge smartphone app, YES. RightHear is entirely Free for users.
As the Marketing Director, Nicole Afek, stated, “there should not be a price to have an equal and equitable experience of knowing what is going on in your surroundings.” The start-up uses a Bluetooth beacon that can be pre-programmed with auditory descriptions, delivered as notifications on an app. This means any place can be turned into an accessible space for less than a fraction of the cost of remodeling or renovating a venue – all in less than 4 ½ minutes!
Making The World a Safe Place for Everyone
RightHear also provides a solution for numerous problems posed by the COVID-19 pandemic for visually impaired people who take the help of braille, which makes them prone to the virus by touching surfaces that might be infected.
Shifting the dependence on auditory notifications for the impaired can make them equally and inherently experience a journey and travel any distance entirely based on auditory descriptions.
RightHear Enables not just Navigation but also Orientation.
It’s pleasing how RightHear, along with their partners, My Eyes, Envision and SeeingAl, who have advancements in assistive and connected devices, are all endeavoring to help visually impaired people become Independent and experience life like everybody else.
RightHear has also partnered with Gett (a ground transportation service) and Moovit (a public transport app) to allow visually impaired users to avail public transport independently as information such as what bus line is approaching, which is usually missed, can be detected and delivered to the user.
Building Up a Co-operative Society
Idan Meir believes that there isn’t any downside or negative impact of the start-up as they are just trying to build a more accessible, inclusive, and equitable society. It satisfies everyone, even the businesses investing in the solutions. And that’s because, he states, “Inclusion starts with Accessibility. When we focus on accessibility, we open up so many opportunities for everyone, not just those with disabilities”.
Future Envision
RightHear are also planning for an accessible autonomous vehicle. They have already won the VW Konnect Startup Challenge in 2021 with their idea of accessible self-driving cars, and they have received an opportunity to partner with Volkswagen Group to bring the concept together and develop a car with that concept.
