Sara A Smolley: Making Voice Tech Accessible To Those Who Need It Most

Nov 03, 2021 Posted by: Anushree Nande Israel,  Sara Smolley,  SDG10,  SDG3,  USA

Sara: Voice-driven technologies are increasingly mainstream. For most of us, voice-activation can be convenient and fun. But for millions of people with motor-control challenges and speech disabilities due to developmental disorders, degenerative disease, stroke, and brain injury, the ability to communicate and be understood, to navigate the environment and control devices by voice can be life changing. Many who can potentially benefit from a “voice first” world cannot access these technologies because along with motor control challenges, they do not have standard speech patterns. Standard speech recognition isn’t designed to work for impaired speech (“dysarthria”). Voiceitt’s mission and vision is to make voice technology accessible to everyone.

Yaritza Vargas: Eliminating Language and Cultural Barriers to Improve Healthcare

Nov 02, 2021 Posted by: Jill Jha SDG10,  SDG13,  SDG3,  USA,  Yaritza Vargas

Yaritza: As a first-generation American, I have seen first hand how language and cultural barriers can make life more challenging for millions of folks in immigrant communities. These challenges are especially difficult when it comes to navigating US healthcare. Multilingual families are more likely to involve their younger loved ones in care but there often are not tools to facilitate this care. My co-founder and I are building a digital health company so families like ours can have better care.

Anthony Shop: Understanding How Technology Transforms Society

Oct 29, 2021 Posted by: Anushree Nande Anthony Shop,  SDG4,  SDG8,  SDG9,  USA

Anthony: We all know that digital technology makes it possible for us to achieve things that used to be unimaginable. At the same time, these innovations have introduced new challenges to society. The relationships between companies and customers, policymakers and constituents, employers and employees, the news media, and the public—even parents and their children—are forever changed. While the digital revolution has the power to uplift, it also creates mechanisms for misinformation and disinformation to spread. This reality led me to seek out like-minded digital leaders and work with them to make a positive change.