Look to Speak was co-created by Google Labs with Sarah Ezekiel. Sarah Ezekiel is an artist who has lost the use of speech and the kinetic functions of her body. Google Labs thanks for the help of its therapist who specializes in speech and language: Richard Cave. The goal of this revolutionary application is to allow people with motor and speech impairments to express themselves through their eyes.
To use Look to Speak, you need to download the mobile app on a smartphone running Android. The application can access the front camera of your mobile phone. It is necessary to configure it so as to accurately detect the movement of the eyes. Movements using Look to Speak: Up, Left and Right. Note that the upward movement closes the app.
Of course, before anything else, the smartphone needs to be positioned so as to face the person who wants to use Look to Speak. To be most effective, the screen should be kept below eye level. The application provides a complete set of pre-recorded words and phrases that make it easy to answer questions and have a simple conversation. The application supports many spoken languages (including French).
These words and phrases are proposed in columns. With the movement of the eyes, the user can choose which word he wants in the column. These words are again divided into two columns, as long as there are only two words in the two columns. By moving the view to the left, the word on the left side of the smartphone reads aloud and vice versa. Eye movement should be exaggerated so that the app can accurately detect whether the vision has moved to the left or right, and not interfere with involuntary short movements. Note that Look to Speak activates sounds when eye movement is detected. Visual detection can be configured.
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