Developing technology and major breakthroughs in software are conducive to taking important steps towards making the world of the disabled easier. The increase in the use of mobile applications day by day is the best example of how many obstacles in life can be removed with technology. Mobile applications developed especially for those with visual and hearing impairments, adults and children with autism, are being preferred by more and more users day by day. Assistive technologies that were not available yesterday, but expensive, inaccessible or dysfunctional, are now available on platforms that everyone can access, economically, efficiently, and designed for individuals who really need them. The projects produced in Turkey in mobile technologies for the disabled are quite remarkable.

1. Mobile Applications Developed for the Visually Impaired

Visually impaired was thought to be a type of disability that restricted the use of technological opportunities as well as restricting daily work. However, the developed software enables visually impaired individuals to easily benefit from mobile technologies. Many jobs, such as using a computer or mobile device, shopping for groceries, visiting touristic places, become easier for the visually impaired thanks to applications that make life easier.

Some of the mobile applications produced for the visually impaired in Turkey:

Audible Steps

The Voice Steps Project, launched by Türk Telekom in cooperation with Boni Global in 2014, aiming to help visually impaired individuals move freely in the complex structures of buildings, is from The National Federation of the Blind ( NFB - National Federation of the Blind) got full marks. At the end of the project, which has been worked on for about two years, it successfully completed the tests conducted at the NFB's headquarters in Baltimore, USA, and won the appreciation of visually impaired people from various parts of the country. Sesli Steps stands out with its user-friendliness and incorporating the ability to accurately identify and position indoor environments, designed by Apple for the visually impaired with IOS 11 and released at the end of 2017.

Sesli Steps application allows visually and hearing impaired people to find the place they want to go on their own mobile phone or to understand where they are at that moment in large and complex areas such as shopping malls and airports, free of charge. In addition, all GSM operators can benefit from the application, which is also used in hospitals, municipalities, ministries, mosques and libraries. Voice Steps also draws attention with its feature of using a Wi-Fi-based location technology solution.

 My Dream Partner

My Dream Companion is a free mobile application for all operators that facilitates the visually impaired access to information and technology, offers audio descriptions in the cinema, current columns, news and indoor navigation services. iOS and Android versions are also available. The application developed by Turkcell is also the owner of many international awards. My Dream Companion application, as a pioneer application in its field, includes many features:

Audio Description in the Cinema: It allows you to listen to the audio descriptions of the movies through My Dream Companion at the cinema, without the need for any extra hardware or software. Thanks to the voice recognition technology, it is possible to watch the movies in theaters simultaneously with everyone without missing any visual details. Deserving the title of “the application with the most audio descriptions in the world” with 175 movies so far, Hayal Ortağım continues to offer a wide range of movies to its users by enriching its library day by day.

Latest Contents: Contents such as thousands of columns, audio books from GETEM and other libraries, followed magazines or weekly horoscope comments can be accessed through the application.

Indoor Navigation: One of the most important features of My Dream Companion is that it offers indoor navigation. With this feature, navigation information can be accessed in places such as shopping centers and universities, and it can even be easily learned which store is the one you pass by while browsing.

The Daylight Game

Türk Telekom launched the Günışığı game application to support the education of children with low vision. Günışığı game, developed by TürkTelekom's R&D unit, within the scope of the Günışığı Project, which is a first in its field in the world; It has been designed to help people with low vision improve their functional vision skills and improve their hand-eye coordination. The application consists of 3 separate sections and 20 different levels with shapes, numbers and letters.

Daylight works on mobile (iOS, Android), web and Windows platforms. The games, which are offered free of charge all over the world at the same time with Turkish and English language options, can also be used by children of pre-school age without disabilities and individuals who learn to read and write at an advanced age.

2. Mobile Applications for the Hearing Impaired and Hard of Hearing

Our local software developers did not lag behind developments such as applications of international companies that facilitate hearing and mobile applications that work in harmony with hearing aids. Applications prepared for those with partial or total hearing loss make life easier for the hearing impaired.

usound

The Usound application, which captures and records conversations in real time and retransmits them by increasing the volume according to the user's preference, is one of the applications that makes it easier to hear in daily life. The application, which is used in 150 countries, is assertive in turning smartphones into hearing aids.

StationEar

The mobile application, which was prepared by the local startup StationEar to facilitate the life of the hearing impaired, provides a mobile communication facility that facilitates hearing.

The application, which simultaneously converts the voice of the other party into written text in mobile calls, can also transmit the texts aloud. In this way, the hearing-impaired can communicate comfortably during voice phone calls. This feature, which is expected to be a life saver, especially in emergency situations such as ambulance and police calls, makes the application a preferable option.