Google’s Look to Speak app helps people with speech and motor impairments. This app lets users communicate using just their eye movements and their phone’s front-facing camera. It was recently promoted with a very beautiful advert that gets the message through to people across the globe.
The company was trying to improve the app further before launching it to a worldwide audience. And it looks like Google has streamlined all the errors and now has started promoting the app. Want to learn more about this app? Keep on reading the article to learn more.
What is Google’s Look to Speak app?
This app allows you to select from a list of phrases using only your eye movement. The app then speaks these phrases aloud. It is designed to help those with motor function impairments and speech difficulties to communicate more easily.
The app is a part of Google’s ‘Start with One‘ project on the ‘Experiments with Google‘ platform. Start with One is a collection of experiments that begin by working with one person to make something impactful for them and their community.
In this case, Google sought to help Sarah Ezekiel, an artist living with motor neuron disease. Google says “The hope is that Look to Speak will be helpful to communities with varied types of temporary, permanent or situational disabilities.”
Using the app is also very simple. Upon first opening the app you will have to give it permission to access your device’s camera. This is a vital requirement as it is needed to track your eye movement. Once that’s done, you’ll see onscreen instructions that walk you through the steps of communicating.
Users are presented with a collection of phrases split into two columns. If the phrase you want is in the left column, you look to the left side to select it. Then, all of the phrases from the left are split across two columns and you can repeat the process as before.
Looking up above the screen will cancel an action. Looking up can also put the app into snooze mode. In snooze mode, the app can be unlocked via a sequence of eye movements when you wish to continue communicating.