{"id":92529,"date":"2021-09-30T08:33:06","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T05:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/?p=92529"},"modified":"2021-09-30T08:34:14","modified_gmt":"2021-09-30T05:34:14","slug":"voxmate-accessibility-space-could-become-a-place-for-many-new-start-ups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/voxmate-accessibility-space-could-become-a-place-for-many-new-start-ups\/","title":{"rendered":"Voxmate: Accessibility space could become a place for many new start-ups"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On September 1, Estonian start-up\u00a0Voxmate<\/a>\u00a0launched a mobile application aimed at people who have lost all or some of their sight. Katja Danilova, co-founder of\u00a0Voxmate, said that there are still very few start-ups in the field of accessibility, although there is great potential for various developments in this area.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The need came from personal experience\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0need\u00a0to develop\u00a0Voxmate\u00a0arose\u00a0when co-founder Katja Danilova\u2019s father suddenly lost his eyesight.\u00a0\u201cWe tried to find activities for him to do while alone at the hospital, such as listening to the radio or audio books,\u201d said Katja. The family had no previous experience with screen readers, but they assumed that\u00a0no one would have issues using them. \u201cIt turned out that they are actually very complicated. It may take years to master\u00a0screen readers\u00a0and they can often be quite annoying,\u201d she said. This is one of the reasons why people who have lost their sight either partially or completely might not begin to use\u00a0smartphones\u00a0or might use only certain functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were surprised because we thought that in the 21st century, thanks to technological advances, it would be very easy to use smartphones without eyesight,\u201d said Katja.\u00a0After researching various existing technologies, they decided to develop their own solution that would be easy to use from day one.\u00a0They invited Jakob Rosin to their team\u00a0\u2013\u00a0a journalist and the chairman of the Estonian Blind Union. Jakob is an experienced screen reader user,\u00a0but even he had to admit that some applications are difficult to use and\u00a0that it can take a lot of time and resources to get into them if you have no interest in technology.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn my previous work as an assistive technology specialist for the visually impaired, I have noticed how much those who have recently lost their eyesight struggle to understand the workings of screen readers, which offer many options and are built into operating systems.\u00a0On the other hand, it is crucial for a person who has just lost their sight to feel that they are still part of the world and are in the same information space as others.\u00a0With\u00a0Voxmate, we want to give them the opportunity to access entertainment, communicate with their friends and receive information quickly, without having to spend weeks learning to use screen readers,\u201d said Jakob.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audio-first\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Voxmate\u00a0differs from other apps for people with visual impairments in that it does not work with the screen reader built into the phone\u2019s operating system, but instead offers users a separate app with a clean and simple interface that relies primarily on audio. \u201cFirst and foremost, we focused on accessibility. Usually it\u2019s the other way around \u2013 you make an app and then think about how to make it accessible,\u201d Katja said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, Voxmate includes around 20 audio-first apps, it\u2019s like a platform of different apps that have been\u00a0adjusted to the needs of blind people or people with poor eyesight. People new to smartphone accessibility can start with the basic apps \u2013 read the news, scan printed text, listen to radio and podcasts, call friends and send instant messages via Telegram. More experienced users can play original games, chat on the Audio Forum, and enjoy clean interfaces for popular services like YouTube.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All functions can be used with four swipes (left-right, up-down). Thus, the solution is fairly simple for those who have previously struggled with screen readers or who have recently lost their vision.\u00a0Voxmate\u00a0has four colour schemes so that people who have lost their vision partially can read words from the screen.\u00a0Voxmate\u00a0can also be used so that the screen is completely blank, yet the audio is still working.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voxmate\u00a0is currently only available in English, but more languages will be added in the future. The platform will also be\u00a0opened up\u00a0to other developers who want to create audio-first applications within\u00a0Voxmate.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The field of accessibility has great potential\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Katja Danilova said that there currently aren\u2019t many start-ups in the field of accessibility, but new companies are gradually emerging.\u00a0One of the reasons is that humanity\u00a0is ageing and there are more and more people with special needs.\u00a0As a result, a\u00a0growing number of companies are focusing on improving the digital accessibility of their services.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Bureau of Internet Accessibility<\/a>\u00a0estimated in 2019 that\u00a0the\u00a0assistive technology\u00a0market\u00a0will be worth 31 billion dollars by 2024. In 2020,\u00a0Fior\u00a0Markets<\/a>\u00a0predicted that by 2025, the market of assistive technology for the visually impaired will be worth 7 billion dollars.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s often assumed that only non-profits are interested in accessibility or inclusion, but the truth is this\u00a0field\u00a0has a lot of potential,\u201d Katja said. \u201cWe talk a lot about sustainability and its importance;\u00a0I see accessibility as a part of that. It\u2019s sustainable when we all care about each other equally. The more we create with different special needs in mind, the better the world becomes for everyone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voxmate\u00a0is available for Android at Google Play Store. In the future, it will also be available for IOS.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of September 2021,\u00a0Voxmate\u00a0is part of the\u00a0Tehnopol\u00a0Startup\u00a0Incubators growth programme via the Northbound\u00a0Startups\u00a0project and will soon become a member of the Connected Health Cluster.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On September 1, Estonian start-up\u00a0Voxmate\u00a0launched a mobile application aimed at people who have lost all or some of their sight. Katja Danilova, co-founder of\u00a0Voxmate, said that there are still very few start-ups in the field of accessibility, although there is great potential for various developments in this area. The need came from personal experience\u00a0 The\u00a0need\u00a0to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":92526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92529"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92531,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92529\/revisions\/92531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tehnopol.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}