Mobile & Emerging Technology

Mobile and emerging technologies are shifting the landscape of assistive technology.

Previously expensive assistive devices were required for text-to-speech technology, for example, eye-gaze control. However, increasingly, these technologies are embedded into mainstream devices. This is exciting. What we don’t yet know, though, is how far a mobile device can act as an assistive technology, how will be people learn about novel accessibility features and be trained to use these, and what impact can mobile and emerging technology have on disabled people’s quality of life. We focus these questions on people living in low- and middle-income countries.

We previously designed and implemented GSMA’s first mobile disability gap and the first digital product narrative.

We are now focusing on two projects:

Mobile as AT
Centre for Digital and Language Inclusion

Mobile as AT

How can mobile phones be assistive technologies for people in low- and middle-income countries? We've worked alongside 800 disabled people in Brazil, Kenya and India with hearing and visual impairment to test the use and impact of Android devices as a form of AT. AT2030 has funded the core research with matched funding from ATscale, alongside an unrestricted gift from Google. The project is led by GDI Hub at UCL Computer Science with academic, mobile and community partners in Brazil, Kenya and India.

Results and outputs

Centre for Digital Language Inclusion

The Centre for Digital Language Inclusion (CDLI) is a pioneering initiative focused on advancing inclusive Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology for people with non-standard, slurred, or hard-to-understand speech, particularly in African languages. CDLI's work aims to reduce communication barriers by ensuring that speech technologies understand people whose voices are often excluded from mainstream systems.

Our work began in Africa, where millions of people with non-standard speech have had little access to assistive technology or speech therapy and where most languages have been entirely absent from AI development. Starting with a successful pilot in Ghana, we've expanded across the continent, conducting innovation sprints in Kenya, Rwanda, and beyond that are part of the GDI Accelerate work.

Results and outputs

Latest

Toward a Multi-layer Framework to Assess the Quality of Life Impact of Smartphones as Assistive Technology for People with Sensory Disabilities in Kenya

Vicki Austin, Catherine Holloway, Dr Giulia Barbareschi, Lan Xiao, Maryam Bandukda

Oct. 22, 2025

Kenya

Academic Research Publications

Recent advances in smartphone technology have elevated their potential as digital assistive technologies (AT) for blind or partially sighted (BPS) and deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) individuals. However, there is a gap in fully understanding the use of smartphones as AT and their impact on the quality of life (QoL) of BPS and DHH individuals. To address this gap, we conducted a mixed-methods longitudinal study over six months with 193 participants in Kenya. The study involved a baseline survey, smartphone digital skills training, and a follow-up survey and interviews to examine the impact of smartphones as AT. The findings emphasise the significant impact of smartphones on their quality of life, including impact on their identity and well-being, social inclusion and leisure, access to information and education, and material well-being. Building on the findings, we contribute an AT Impact Framework, which highlights the behaviours enabled by smartphones and their impact on the individual

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A Cookbook for Community-driven Data Collection of Impaired Speech in LowResource Languages

Gifty Ayoka, Catherine Holloway, Richard Cave

Sept. 30, 2025

Ghana

Academic Research Publications

This study presents an approach for collecting speech samples to build Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) models for impaired speech, particularly, low-resource languages. It aims to democratize ASR technology and data collection by developing a "cookbook" of best practices and training for community-driven data collection and ASR model building. As a proof-of-concept, this study curated the first open-source dataset of impaired speech in Akan: a widely spoken indigenous language in Ghana. The study involved participants from diverse backgrounds with speech impairments. The resulting dataset, along with the cookbook and open-source tools, are publicly available to enable researchers and practitioners to create inclusive ASR technologies tailored to the unique needs of speech impaired individuals. In addition, this study presents the initial results of fine-tuning open-source ASR models to better recognize impaired speech in Akan.

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Exploring the Usability of Gaze-based Mobile Communication in Ghana

Gifty Ayoka, Vicki Austin, Catherine Holloway, Dr Giulia Barbareschi, Richard Cave, Derick Omari

Sept. 26, 2025

Ghana

Academic Research Publications

In Ghana, people with communication challenges could benefit from gaze-based Augmented and Assistive Communication devices (AACs), widely used in countries with greater resources. However, there is limited evidence about the potential of such devices by people with communication disabilities in the Global South. Our study sought to evaluate the usability, identifying barriers and facilitators of adoption of a freely available Android-based eye-gaze AAC application called Look to Speak. The study included training of 10 local speech and language therapists and 15 people with communication difficulties. Our findings highlight how, despite some initial successes and the positive opinions of clients, caregivers and speech and language therapists the Look to Speak application largely failed to deliver substantial communication benefits to individual users. This was due to a combination of factors including the high cognitive load, design flaws of the application - such as the lack of optimi

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