2024: the major steps in assistive technology

00:08 S1

Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition, available from the 31st of December 2024 - yes, we're there already. I'm Stephen Jolley. Great to have you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, associated stations of the Radio Reading Network or the Community Radio Network. There is also the podcast. To catch that, all you need to do is search for the two words talking tech and Dan. It can all come usually on a Tuesday afternoon just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask your Siri device or smart speaker to play. Vision Australia radio talking tech podcast. Vision Australia radio talking tech podcast. 

With me, Vision Australia's national access technology manager. Damo McMorrow. Damo, how's your Christmas New Year period going?

00:57 S2

Fantastic. Nice and relaxing. It's a good time of year.

01:00 S1

Well about time. You did a bit of work. Now then. So let's reflect on the year in technology, particularly access or assistive technology, and some very interesting developments in both hardware and software. I want to ask you first about what's been a great breakthrough, the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

01:21 S2

These are definitely high on my list of, you know, cool things for 2024. These are, for all intents and purposes, a conventional looking set of Ray-Ban sunglasses, and they come in a few different styles and shapes depending on the shape of your face and what have you. But they do have a I think it's a 12 or 13 megapixel camera in the top of the left hand lens, and a small LED in the same spot on the right hand lens. The right arm of the glasses is a touchpad, and you can, by using your voice, access a whole bunch of AI based features - so you can say things like, Hey, Meta, look and tell me what you see... Hey Meta, look and read me this text. 

You can use them for things like clothes matching. So Hey Meta, what colour is this shirt? You can use it for all sorts of different things. Look and tell me if there is any signage. And we've also now got access to both IRA and Be my Eyes through this device as well. So you can now use them as a hands free solution for those sort of visual interpreting services.

02:28 S1

You can even have a video call with a friend.

02:32 S2

Yeah, you can through messenger or WhatsApp. And you can also use them to record videos or take photos. So you can do that either by voice, or you can do it by pressing the little button on the top of the right hand arm. The nice thing is that it'll take the picture wherever you're looking. That is often easier than trying to position your iPhone camera.

02:54 S1

A very simple application might be you're in the vicinity of a building. You could ring a friend or partner and say, I think I'm at the building. Can you guide me into the reception desk?

03:04 S2

Yeah, absolutely. It works really well for that sort of situation.

03:09 S1

This is probably the surprise of the year, I suspect, because it sort of snuck up on us. It was a mainstream item which came out from Meta. It was quickly realised that this had enormous application for the blind and low vision community around the world. And here we are.

03:27 S2

Absolutely. And because it's a mainstream item, it is at a sort of a consumer price point. You know, you're looking at sort of $450 for this, what is really quite amazing technology.

03:38 S1

Mm. There are comparable devices doing similar things like ARXVision.

03:45 S2

Yes. So the ARXVision was officially released last year in the UK, but it wasn't available until around about September this year here in Australia. And they've made some significant improvements to the initial one that was released overseas. This is a essentially a bone conduction type headset where. So if you're familiar with the aftershocks type headphones, it's similar to that. The headband goes around the back of your head and the earpieces sit on your cheekbone. So just sort of forward of your ears. That way your ears are not covered and you can still judge your surroundings and that kind of thing. And on the right hand end of the unit is a camera module, which is sort of a small rectangular box with some buttons. 

And at the moment the device is only Android. They still haven't released the iPhone adapter for it, although I'm told that that's coming sort of any day now. But... it does pair to your phone with a cable, and you then run the Vision app, and you can then control it using the buttons on the camera module. So it has a text recognition mode, a document mode... it has a scene description mode. And it also has what they call Ask, which is where you can scan a document and then ask questions about the document, like what's the cheapest thing on the menu? How much do I have to pay for this bill? When's the bill due? That sort of thing. So it is sort of doing some similar functions, but it does them in a slightly different way. 

And like all of these things, there are pros and cons. I think the document reading function in the R is definitely better, because the meta glass has always want to try and summarize things for you, rather than just reading the document, so that can be a little frustrating. But on the other hand, the meta glasses are lighter, smaller, and look like a conventional set of glasses. So if you're fashion conscious, you know that might be important to you. So it really depends on what you're trying to do as to which one of these wearables might actually suit you.

05:54 S3

Um.

05:55 S1

Going back to mainstream devices, Zoom. A great breakthrough in the recording field?

06:01 S2

Yes, absolutely. So Zoom have now released four recorders. Field recorder-type devices that have built-in accessibility. And this is actually quite a significant milestone, simply because it's a mainstream device that is accessible out of the box, and also that you actually have to opt out of the accessibility. So in other words, when you turn the recorder on, it comes up talking and says, If you don't want the accessibility, if you don't want the speech, press this button. Otherwise the accessibility stays on. Whereas with a lot of devices, you've got to navigate through ten levels of menu just to turn the accessibility feature on in the first place. 

So there's the zoom. H1 Essentials is the sort of the most basic of these recorders. It just has a stereo... sort of XY-type microphone pickup. And it's a very small unit. Then we've got the H2 Essentials, which has two different types of external mics with different pickup patterns. And then there's the H4 Essentials, which has, uh, the ability to connect two external microphones as well as using the internal ones. And then you've got the sort of the Rolls-Royce version, which is the H6 Essentials, which can take four external microphone inputs, or you can use the the internals. So if you're recording a lot of interviews and... you know, podcasts and those sorts of things where you want multiple microphones, then probably the H6 Essentials is the way to go. 

But just having these things accessible out of the box, you know, for for those of you that use a digital recorder, I mean, I use the H1 essentials a lot, I suppose a substitute for photographs. You know, I like to record soundscapes. I like to record, you know, Marion and I go somewhere on holiday, and there's a particular sound that I associate with that I like to record that and be able to review it as a, you know, as someone would photographs. But equally, if I go to a car show or an air show or something like that, you know, I can record the stuff that I'm hearing.

08:05 S1

And they double as an audio interface as well, separate from the recording function.

08:09 S2

Really great. Yeah, absolutely. So you can use them with your Mac or your PC or your iPhone or your Android phone to record phone interviews and those kinds of things.

08:18 S1

Let's go to Braille now, Braille displays. And I think the one that really attracted a lot of attention, particularly of Braille devotees, is the BT Speak from Blazie technologies.

08:31 S2

Especially for those people who had a Braille and speak back in the 80s or 90s. So this is a little device that has a Perkins style Braille keyboard and speech out. It's about the same footprint as an iPhone 15, but it's probably as thick as two iPhones stacked on top of each other. So very small sort of thing you can carry in a jacket pocket or a man bag or a handbag and just quickly whip out and use as a note taker. 

But it's really come a long way this year. You know, from when it came out in sort of February, since then we've got things like a YouTube streaming application, a Google Drive integration. We've got a phone book that you can integrate with your Google Contacts. You've got the ability now to have the sort of vocalizer type voices, as opposed to just E-speak and Dectalk, which is what it came out with. So it's got a quite a rapid development cycle and is sort of coming ahead in in leaps and bounds. It's a really nice little device. But for those who remember the old Braille On Speak, it's sort of a almost like a modern day Braille On Speak, really.

09:40 S1

The long awaited Orbit Speak from Orbit Research is now out there in the field.

09:46 S2

Yes. Now, I have to admit that I haven't actually had my hands on one of these. It's sort of, I guess it's similar in concept. So Braille input, speech output. It has a number of built-in applications as well as I think being able to act as a terminal or a keyboard for your, you know, your iPhone or other other smart type devices. This one took quite a long time. It was first announced about two and a half years ago, so it took a long time, unfortunately, to sort of reach the market. And I think that probably the BT Speak got the jump on them a little bit. It is... a bit cheaper than the BT Speak.

10:23 S1

We've got to talk about the world of tactile Braille displays, and I think of the Dotpad and the Monarch. Those devices have really come well through their adolescence and early adulthood now aren't they? They're in the market.

10:36 S2

Oh yeah. Definitely. Definitely. We saw the launch of the Monarch here in Australia a few months ago. And, you know, I think this is sort of going to be the next generation of Braille technology, really. You know, it will be possible with a multi-line display to read, books to display graphics. You know, all of those sorts of things. Unfortunately, they're still quite large and quite heavy, but it's just brilliant to be able to have that multi-line functionality so that you can look at tables and those sorts of things. And of course, being able to produce tactile graphics as well means that you could look at graphs, you could zoom into a picture, that kind of thing. 

So I think these things have got massive potential for the education market, particularly in those sort of science, technology, engineering and maths type subjects... but even just for someone who is an avid reader or who works with long and complex documents, that multiline functionality is is going to be a game changer. I think they are expensive.

11:38 S1

We certainly need those who fund education and support of employers to come to the party with those devices.

11:45 S2

And I think as the technology improves and develops further, hopefully we'll start to see the price drop. You know, as tends to happen with new tech, it's always expensive at the start. And then as they become a little more accepted and a little more mainstream, that hopefully the cost will come down and there'll be more within reach of anybody that needs them.

12:04 S1

We have talked a lot during the year about the major software movement, shall we say, and that's AI, which has really developed from when we first heard about it about two years ago. The big thing has been, I think, the Apple intelligence.

12:20 S2

Yeah, that's definitely been a big one. And it's kind of a major refresh for Siri. So you can integrate it with ChatGPT, which is one of the other big sort of AI engines. You can use it to summarise emails, notifications, all sorts of things really, but I think I generally, you know, I mean, we talked about the meta glasses and the AI that's built into that. On last week's show, we talked about the voice mode or conversation mode in ChatGPT and what you can do with that. And there's things like the the Google Notebook LM feature as well, where you can generate a summary that almost sounds like a podcast with two people discussing the content. You know, it's really been a massive... thing, I think AI in the last 12 months. 

We've also seen though, the video description that we talked about a few weeks ago on the show, through seeing AI and Pixie Bot and being able to describe video content.

13:19 S1

And also with the accessibility of various software tools, we've got the Jaws companion, we've got Ask Miss Accessibility, Microsoft. They're making a difference, aren't they?

13:30 S2

Absolutely, yes. And there's, you know, Rim Bot, which is designed for sort of tech support. So those things have been a massive game changer. And just in terms of being able to just quickly get the information that you need.

13:43 S1

A lot has happened in 2024, a lot to look forward to in... 2025. Before we go, a reminder that you can find details of what we've been talking about in this and previous editions of the program by going to VA radio, dot org slash talking tech, VA radio, dot org slash talking tech. And to write to the program...

14:06 S2

You can email me, Damo, Damo dot McMorrow... at Vision Australia dot org. And thank you everyone for your emails. And I just want to take the opportunity to wish you a very happy and prosperous 2025.

14:22 S1

And the same to you, Damo - damo.mcmorrow@visionaustralia.org - This has been Talking Tech, with me has been Vision Australia's national access technology manager Damo McMorrow. I'm Stephen Jolley. Have a great 2025 everyone. We'll see you then. Take care. We'll talk more tech next week. Bye.