Samsung is highlighting some of the accessibility features in its Bixby Vision platform to commemorate the ninth annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day. Bixby Vision was designed specifically to help give people with visual impairments a better sense of their surroundings.
To that end, Bixby Vision utilizes the camera in Samsung’s various Galaxy devices to provide users with more information about the world around them. For example, Quick Reader is able to read aloud the words on a sign or a piece of paper, giving people with visual impairments more reliable access to the printed information that other people use to navigate the world. The Quick Reader can also identify thousands of everyday objects like foods or household cleaners to make it easier to complete a number of different routine tasks.
The Scene Describer and the Color Detector, meanwhile, are fairly self-explanatory. The former is able to analyze a photo and describe any potential obstacles and hazards, while the latter can determine the color of an object like a piece of clothing.
According to Samsung, the Bixby Vision suite was developed in close collaboration with its intended users, who tested the features and provided feedback about changes that would make them more helpful in practical settings.
“One of the problems we faced when testing the features with visually impaired users is that their way of experiencing the world is different from ours,” said Samsung UX Researcher Mikael Fodor. “Being able to observe how the features work in the hands of our users and in real life situations allows us to understand problems and make improvements.”
Samsung is not the only company working to make digital technology more accessible for those with visual impairments. Onfido recently released a new SDK that provides haptic and audio feedback to help people navigate smartphone applications.
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