A real-time communiction app for deaf-blind people
Text To Speech
Speak messages on your behalf with appropriate accessibility indications
Speech To Text
Bluetooth Connection
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Features
Text To Speech
Speak messages on your behalf with appropriate accessibility indications
Train Mode
Informs you when the train enters a new city using GPS or Internet connection
Speech To Text
Recognize the surroundings voices on your behalf in English &Hebrew
Accessibility
Appropriate accessibility indication & settings for both the speaker and the deaf-blind
Braille support
If needed, you can Read & Write with a standard braille keyboard via Bluetooth
Hebrew & English
The system's features and interface supports English & Hebrew
User guide in Hebrew
User guide in English
Youtube Demo's
Meet Hawking
OUR STORY
According to statistics, over 1400 Israelis have the dual disability of deaf-blindness. Today the deaf-blind can use a device to read text messages in braille, forcing a way of communication from the environment – using sign language or via text messages.
The main purpose of this product is enabling verbal communication with the deaf-blind, thus relieving their loneliness and enhancing their independence, supporting Hebrew & English.
This app is part of a final computer engineering project in Ben-Gurion university Israel, in collaboration with the deaf-blind center in Israel.
OUR VISION
The purpose of this project is to develop a system that will enable verbal communication with the deaf-blind, thus relieving their loneliness and enhancing their independence.
Today there is no technological solution available to this community, especially in Hebrew.
Development of the system will emphasize accessibility to the Israeli community using the tools available to them, with an emphasis on meeting their daily needs.
THE PRODUCT
An application on Android device which is connected to a special developed Braille display with a regular keyboard layout.
The application can perform Speech-to-Braille and Braille-to-Speech operations accompanied with the appropriate accessibility indication that the conversation is well executed and continuous for both the speaker and the deaf-blind person.
Advisors
Our product design and develop process done in collaboration with the Deaf-blind center in Israel - Beit David Institute and in cooperation with the deaf-blind community in Israel.
This collaboration is crucial for designing a suitable product to answer their needs.
We can use those channels directly to reach pe who suffer from this illness (deaf-blindness) in Israel.
People who suffer from blindness or deafness separately can also use this product to help them communicate.
Beth David Institute
Center for deaf-blind persons in Israel
Migdal-OR
A functional and occupational rehabilitation center for people with visual impairments in Israel
Orbit research Labs
develops and manufactures innovative and affordable products that enable an independent lifestyle for the physically challenged
Prof.Hugo Guterman
LABORATORY for autonomous robotics
Ben-Gurion University
Dr.Ariel Luzzatto
CTO at Melotec.lt & CEO at L&L Research
Ben-Gurion University
STAY IN TOUCH
Team mail : hawkingbgu@gmail.com
Hugo Guterman : hugo@bgu.ac.il
Ariel Lozato : luzzatto.ariel@gmail.com
Department Of Electrical and Computer Eng.
Ben-Gurion University of The Negev
P.O.B. 653, Beer-Sheva Israel 84105
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Where i can find a User Guide ?In-dept user guide in Hebrew is available here : https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/ad58f8_9534e1c7ff81401185ae0dcac1d3794d.pdf?index=true User guide in English will be available soon.
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How train mode works ?Train mode uses the GPS navigator on your decive. This mode notify the user when the device is entered a new city with text & vibration. We are working to implement better resolution to detected individual train stations. If something appear to not working, the app will notify you to whats the problem (GPS is not enable / wifi is not enable etc).
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Which language Hawking supports?Hawking fully supports Hebrew & English in the User Interface, Text-To-Speech, Speech-To-Text and more. The app language is detected automatically according to your decive language.
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What is TTS ?TTS (Text-To-Speech) is the abillity to perform conversion of text on the app to sound from your device. Hawking can speak your messages to the surrodings, with the appropriate accessibility indications for every action & Accessibility settings such as speak at max volume, voice language, vibration etc. We are using Vocalizer TTS engine to speak in Hebrew. You can download it directly from the app or here. If you set the TTS settings in the app to Hebrew a pop-up window with instruction to how to install will pop-up (2 step and easy install).
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What is STT?STT (Speech-To-Text) is the abillity to perform conversion of voice speaking near you to a text on the app chat. Hawking can recognize surrodings voices in Hebrew (require Internet access for now) and English. With the appropriate accessibility indications for every action & Accessibility settings such as voice language, vibration etc. The app can also convert the text directly to a Standart Braille Keyboard. We are using the default Google Speech Engine for this operation (already installed in every android device).
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Does the app have Dark mode ?Yes ! you can enable dark mode directly in the app settings Hawking -> Settings icon in the right corner -> Tap on "Night Theme".