“Look to Speak” is a new experimental app from Google that helps those with speech and motor impairments communicate through eye gaze technology.
The app lets people look left and right — relative to a phone placed directly in front of them — to select from a list of phrases, which can be customized. There are two columns of text, with selections then spoken aloud.
Look to Speak leverages eye gaze technology that uses the front-facing camera found on Android devices. A clear view of the user’s eyes is required, while the phone has to be securely mounted and not just held in hand. The application features a Setup Helper, while there’s a Practice Screen to get started.
Customization options let users set the gaze off-screen distance (close, medium, and far), as well as the gaze duration needed to trigger. A feedback ping is available to confirm every selection. The app can be paused/”snoozed” at any time (by looking up) so that it’s not always looking for your gaze.
This assistive tool is part of the Experiments with Google platform’s “Start with One” project:
Look to Speak is available today on Android 9+ phones, as well as Android One, and Google has published resources to help use the tool.
More Experiments with Google:
Shared Piano’ experiment lets you create music with friends remotely‘Sodar’ AR tool uses your camera to help enforce social distancingGoogle ‘smart braid’ experiment uses a headphone cable to control your music
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