Envision, Aira Partner to Enhance Glasses for Low-Vision Patients

Today, Envision announced a partnership with Aira a developer of visual interpreting services, adding the live, professional service to the Envision Glasses.

The integration between these assistive technology services enables Envision Glasses customers with an Aira account* to place hands-free video calls to Aira Agents. Until now, Aira users have had to rely solely on chest harnesses to mount their mobile device when they sought a hands-free experience. Now, the Envision Glasses offer Aira Agents a unique field of view from the customer’s perspective, with the panning and pointing of the camera happening at eye level, and natural head movement directing them toward what is of interest.

For Envision Glasses customers, the integration with the Aira service provides access to 24/7, human-to-human, professional visual interpreting for just about any task at home, work or when on the move. This addition of Aira to the Envision Glasses substantially strengthens Envision’s Ally video call feature which enables customers to make video calls to chosen family members and friends.

“We all like to have a choice of people to go to when we need assistance. From professionally trained agents to family and friends. With the addition of Aira to the Envision Glasses we are delighted to not only be able to offer our customers that choice but also an easier, hands-free Aira experience.” Said Karthik Mahadevan, CEO and co-founder of Envision.

“This partnership provides people who are blind or have low vision with the ultimate technology and productivity tool to enhance independence and personal productivity as never before,” added Troy Otillio, CEO, Aira Tech Corp.

The integration enables new levels of efficiency and ease of use to power many popular experiences already in play but now further improved:

• Information workers for workplace autonomy: on-demand assistance with computer-related tasks, with inaccessible documents, describing inaccessible materials like charts and graphs, and navigating to meetings, offsites, and during business travel
• Manual laborers for workplace efficiency: on-demand assistance stocking and managing inventory, reading computer screens, setting up equipment, locating tools, navigating through unfamiliar spaces, and learning new tasks and processes as roles change
• Individuals for personal independence: objective assistance with anything personal or time-sensitive where enlisting a friend or family member is not desired or not possible

In these instances, having the ability to call a professionally trained agent who can reliably offer assistance is incredibly empowering to the individual.

Aira and Envision Support Inclusivity in the Workplace, Envision Enterprise Division Announced
The Aira partnership comes as Envision also announces Envision Enterprise, a dedicated division that focuses on working with leading organizations and low vision and blind workforces to enable greater inclusion and independence in the workplace.

“Aira’s integration on to the Envision Glasses has been my number one request from day one. Being an expat, I have a very small social circle to call upon for help so by having Aira on my glasses I have access to a huge, trained network to ask for assistance whenever I need it,” said Parham Doustdar, engineering manager of Accessibility, Booking.com.

In many countries, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is far greater than the national average. A shared vision of Envision and Aira is to increase employment opportunities amongst people who are blind or have low vision by making assistive technology tools more readily available to them. A significant step toward achieving this, is partnering with enterprises that currently employ and/or wish to employ low vision or blind people. Enabling employees to be more productive at work, while enabling enterprises to be more inclusive, is a major focus of both Aira and Envision.

Otillio said, “With Envision Glasses and Aira, innovative organizations are able to expand their candidate pool and realise their vision of having diversity and inclusivity embedded within the fabric of their workforce.”

“We are continuously looking at ways to enhance the user experience of our glasses and app,” concluded Mahadevan. “The partnership with Aira is just the start of a roll out of feature enhancements and third-party integrations that will enable the millions of low vision and blind people to live a more independent life, albeit at home or work.

Aira is a live, human-to-human professional assistance service for people who are blind or have low vision. Using the combination of a camera and the Aira app on someone’s device of “choice,” a professionally-trained agent will assist by visually interpreting what is in the camera’s view or shared on screen, from describing to reading, from explaining to navigating–just about anything, safely and securely. 

*Aira App is a free to download app available on iOS and Android from PlayStore and AppStore.

With millions of calls to date, Aira is used by employees and customers of hundreds of organisations including airports, banks, the largest software companies, financial firms, retailers and universities, Aira enhances independence, efficiency and autonomy.

Envision builds assistive tech and services to help people navigate everyday information for themselves. By harnessing the power of AI, Envision products enable anyone with low or no vision to interact with the world around them on their own terms, creating possibility, access, and inclusivity. Envision has more than 200,000 customers globally and, in 2019, won the Google Play Award for Best Accessibility App. Founded in 2017, Envision is located in The Hague, Netherlands.