AI allows hearing impaired people to "hear" sounds

For the able-bodied, technology changes lives; for the disabled, technology changes destiny.

In recent years, with the development of science and technology and the advent of the AI era, more and more technology companies are using artificial intelligence to develop barrier-free and inclusive products to help people with disabilities cope with challenges from work, modern life and interpersonal relationships, providing opportunities for integration and participation in society.

"As a national technology enterprise, iFLYTEK's mission is to 'let machines listen, understand and think, and use artificial intelligence to build a better world'." Zhou Zhou, vice president of iFLYTEK's Operator Division, said in an interview with the China Times that since 2018, the developers of iFLYTEK's open platform have developed more than 20,000 barrier-free applications, with an average daily call volume of more than 5,000 related AI capabilities, providing hundreds of millions of free services per day, and providing lifelong free real-time voice transcription services for more than 20 million hearing-impaired people.

According to the reporter's understanding, iFLYTEK insists on building an artificial intelligence industry ecosystem, accelerating the incubation of high-tech enterprises, and investing in the construction of barrier-free communications, and has embarked on a road of "AI public welfare and corporate responsibility".

In this regard, Zhang Jingdan, director of the Barrier-free Culture Promotion Center of the China Association for the Promotion of the Cause of Disabled Persons, said that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the beginning of the "14th Five-Year Plan", and the 30th anniversary of the implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities. She is pleased to see that all kinds of enterprise entities and social organizations have shown great love and responsibility in helping the disabled, practicing corporate social responsibility, actively helping the disabled to find employment, and devoting themselves to public welfare charity, and helping the disabled is gradually becoming the moral consensus and action consciousness of the whole society.

Go with the flow, empower "AI" barrier-free

"Vigorously developing the construction of information accessibility" is an important measure in the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Construction of Barrier-free Environment". As one of the earliest enterprises in China to lay out intelligent voice, iFLYTEK began to focus on the needs of disabled groups such as deaf and blind people, and minimized the difficulty of accessing information for disabled groups through artificial intelligence.

"For hearing-eaters, AI technology is the icing on the cake, but for people with disabilities, it is a blessing in disguise, and it is just needed." For example, text and speech conversion technology can solve the communication needs of the hearing impaired. Zhou Zhou said that people with disabilities have always been a special group of concern to iFLYTEK, and the previous services were relatively scattered, since 2017, iFLYTEK has begun to provide comprehensive and systematic services for disabled groups such as deaf and blind.

According to the reporter's understanding, at present, the total number of disabled people in China exceeds 85 million, accounting for about 1/15 of the total population. Among them, there are about 20 million hearing impaired people and 18 million blind people.

In the case of hearing-impaired people, for example, they face many difficulties in all aspects of their lives because they cannot receive sound. Inability to communicate with people normally, difficulty at work, and deficiencies in self-expression. Over time, it becomes increasingly difficult for the hearing impaired to communicate with the world correctly and effectively, and frustration arises and they are gradually marginalized by the audio world.

In order to solve these dilemmas of the hearing impaired, as early as July 2019, the China Disabled Persons' Federation, the China Association of the Deaf, Beijing Union University and iFLYTEK established the "Joint Laboratory for R&D and Application of Hearing Information Barrier-free", in which iFLYTEK provided technical support for speech.

Not only that, with the advent of the 5G era, how to truly realize the digitalization, networking, intelligence and integration level of barrier-free construction and application is also the thinking and mission of iFLYTEK.

"We have never stopped exploring barrier-free construction. In 2021, with the support and help of the leaders of the China Disabled Persons' Federation, iFLYTEK relied on its own leading artificial intelligence voice technology, and after 200 days and nights of excellence by the production and research team, it focused on developing a variety of barrier-free intelligent communication products: including the barrier-free intelligent assistant software 'Love Listening Assistant', the barrier-free intelligent video call platform and peripheral hardware products. These products use the best engines in our industry and a number of pioneering technologies, which are committed to helping the hearing impaired to break down the communication 'barriers' and provide them with services such as speech transcription, intelligent answering, voice restoration, sign language recognition, etc., and greatly improve the communication experience of the hearing impaired. ”

At the same time, it is worth mentioning that iFLYTEK will also serve as the exclusive supplier of automatic speech conversion and translation for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, providing automatic translation and related speech conversion, recognition and speech synthesis capabilities support, and taking communication accessibility as the goal of pursuing the Winter Olympics.

According to the reporter's understanding, Liu Qingfeng, chairman of iFLYTEK, recently said in a keynote sharing at the 9th Annual Meeting of Chinese Entrepreneurs: Since 2018, iFLYTEK has won 39 global firsts in the international artificial intelligence competition, and these AI technologies are being widely used in employment, poverty reduction, medical care, education, pension, enterprise development and other aspects, and have written the "Answer of the Times" for consolidating the foundation of common prosperity and achieving the goal of comprehensively building socialist modernization.

Innovation leads, opening a new chapter in the cause of barrier-free intelligent communication

As a technology-based enterprise focusing on artificial intelligence, iFLYTEK does not forget to actively fulfill its corporate responsibilities while continuously consolidating its products, promotes the development of public welfare undertakings with practical actions, and pours out a 100-person production and research team with the help of the scientific research strength of iFLYTEK Research Institute to create with people with disabilities, bringing them real help and change. After nearly 5 years of focused services, iFLYTEK will open a new chapter in the cause of barrier-free intelligent communication.

"'There won't be another phone call in the world that can't be made', and before that, this may have been just a dream, because in many people's minds, people with hearing impairments can't make phone calls with hearing people. Just this year, iFLYTEK and its operator partners hope to make users more direct, effective and convenient to apply barrier-free information technology through the iteration of large network technology. Zhou Zhou said that iFLYTEK will work with operator partners to explore the integration and interconnection of AI intelligent technology, 5G communication technology, multi-party communication platform and barrier-free public welfare to create a more convenient and efficient barrier-free communication environment for people with disabilities.

According to the reporter's understanding, just recently, 13 departments such as the China Disabled Persons' Federation, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for barrier-free environment construction" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Plan"). The "Implementation Plan" clearly proposes to vigorously develop the construction of information barrier-free. Accelerate the in-depth integration of informatization and barrier-free environment, make information accessibility an important part of the construction of new smart cities and digital villages, incorporate it into the evaluation indicators of civilized cities and new smart cities, accelerate the construction of information accessibility such as government affairs, public services, and e-commerce, promote convenient and inclusive telecommunications services, accelerate the popularization of Internet websites, mobile Internet applications and self-service public service equipment accessibility, and carry out barrier-free rating evaluation of websites and mobile Internet applications, Support the research and development and production of information barrier-free terminal products with high scientific and technological level and excellent cost performance.

Policies guide the direction, and enterprises forge ahead. Zhou Zhou said that iFLYTEK will unswervingly practice its corporate mission and social responsibility with scientific and technological innovation, "let science and technology have feelings, and let public welfare warm people's hearts". In the new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country, we will continue to promote the high-quality development of barrier-free intelligent communication construction, promote the common prosperity and social harmony of all people, and build a better world with artificial intelligence.

"There's not another phone call in the world that can't be made." In the upcoming year of 2022, all of this is possible.

Trainee Editor: Zhou Nan Editor-in-Chief: Wang Xiaohui