“Game-changing” smart speaker designed by Nottingham deaf student

Sam Russell of Nottingham Trent University has designed a smart speaker primarily for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The student, who has been deaf since birth, remarked that it was astounding existing technology couldn’t be used properly by a huge proportion of the population.

His design, named Janus, includes a screen that provides a written transcript of both the request and response, alongside an AI-assisted camera system capable of recognising sign language.

Mr Russell noted that the visual feedback also benefits all users, particularly those with regional accents, which standard speakers sometimes struggle to interpret.

Mr Russell recently completed his BSc in Product Design and in his interview with the BBC stated that it’s surprising that a product used worldwide isn’t effectively usable by a large segment of the population.

A significant drawback of smart assistant devices is their limited speech recognition capability. Studies indicate that these devices have lower accuracy rates for ethnic minorities and those with non-standard accents, who often find it difficult to be understood.

Moreover, for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, there’s no indication whether their commands have been received, as standard smart speakers typically don’t offer any visual feedback. For instance, they can’t confirm whether the speaker actually set a timer for 10 minutes due to the lack of visual confirmation technology.

His design will be showcased next month at New Designers 2024, a London-based exhibition of emerging UK design talent.

Richard Malcolm, senior lecturer in Product Design at NTU, said to the BBC: “Sam has designed a product based on his own lived experience as a deaf person.

“However, it has also highlighted potential limitations of a product used by millions of people, bringing the importance of essential accessibility features to the forefront.”