Braci Hearing Assistant Smart App - Guest Post by Matthew Manetta

We who are Deaf or living with hearing loss are living in a wonderful technological age. The advances by innovative people are making the world more accessible to us everyday. Matthew Manetta is a student in Finland involved with a team that has created an app for Android and Pebble that clues us into sounds going on around us. Be sure to watch the video below the post.

Matthew kindly accepted my offer to guest post for us today sharing what his team has developed and how you can help with their latest creation, the Braci Hearing Assistant app. I appreciate the time Matthew took to write for us today - as a student and working with the Braci team, he has a pretty full schedule. Thank you, Matthew for informing us about the Braci Hearing Assistant.

~~~~~

At Braci, we want to use technology to solve problems that can really have a positive impact on lives. We see technology as a means to assist in improving the quality of life for all people, and for allowing easier communication and living. Our platform allows Deaf and Hard of Hearing people to use the same safety standards as the hearing, and be more aware of their environments in a convenient, accessible, and affordable way.

The Braci Hearing Assistant listens to the world around you and turns sounds into visual and sensory alerts. Unlike other solutions with flashing lights and expensive hardware installations, Braci allows you to use the current building infrastructure and alarm systems installed, and still be alerted to events even if you are unable to hear or see them. This can give you a sense of security and peace of mind. Our app is efficient when it comes to quick response, alert time, and is also very affordable. It's perfect for people who are hard-of-hearing, deaf, elderly, and for others too.

The app uses your smartphone or smart device/watch's microphone to constantly listen to your environment when you activate "Detection Mode".

Braci can be connected to smart watches such as the Pebble Watch or those on Android Wear. This easy-to-use app enables a fast way to be notified of all situations. The unique Braci platform is able to detect a broad range of sounds with its smart algorithm and alerts the user by vibrating their smartphone and smartwatch, flashing the mobile’s camera light, and showing an icon image of the current event on the smartphone and smart watch’s screen with a text note of the name of the event under the icon.

Braci has a full-time team of 4. We’re located in the UK and Finland. Our team consists of our CEO/CTO/Inventor Anwar Almojarkesh, our Designer Amr Wanly, our Strategic Biz Dev and Marketing Manager (myself) Matthew Manetta, and our Product Manager Juma el-Awaisi.

Braci was started in 2009 when Anwar Almojarkesh invented a way to wake himself up for class. He was sleeping through his engineering courses at college in Jordan. The first solution was a device that he could set and would splash water on him to wake him. After a few changes and solutions were made, he realized that his alert system idea could be utilized by more people than heavy sleepers and the Braci platform was born for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

We’ve been gathering feedback, listening to problems faced on a regular basis, implementing favored solutions, and we’ve been perfecting our software and algorithms which run the hardware platform. Our journey includes meeting kids in deaf schools, attending events like the Nordic Culture Festival of the Deaf, hanging out and learning sign in the deaf clubs, meeting deaf businesses, audiologists, organizations and more. It’s been really great and we are highly motivated.

For an American living abroad in a country where English is a second or third language, communication can be tricky. I’ve found that Finnish Sign Language is really enjoyable to learn. At the Nordic Culture Festival of the Deaf, I had my first real opportunity to be surrounded in an environment which allowed me to use strictly FSL and learn by doing. I would love to make more friends to practice signing with like that.

Our apps are available on the Google Play Store, the Pebble Store, and soon will be available to the public on the Apple App Store. If you’re currently on an Android and would like to try out Braci then please visit our site at www.braci.co and click download now or follow the links:

Braci Hearing Assistant- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwZeCKg2HLQ

Braci Baby Monitor- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ugs.babycrying

Car Horn Detection - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNlvSYePn2Q

If you’re currently on an Android and would like to try out Braci then please visit our site at www.braci.co and click download now or follow the links:

Braci- Hearing Assistant on Google Play:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ugs.doorbell

Braci- Baby Crying Monitor on Google Play:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ugs.babycrying

Also if you would like to see how the app works then have a look at these videos:

Doorbell Detection- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwZeCKg2HLQ

Braci Baby Monitor- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ugs.babycrying

theft alarm https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkbwxdVwYNzrZn0Xc70kt_g

*the car horn detection is being developed: although we have it functioning we are not ready to release it even for beta testing because we need it to be working 100%

Car Horn Detection - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNlvSYePn2Q

If you’re on IOS and would like to try out our app as a beta tester then please contact us via our website to info@braci.co or go to our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BraciInc  and send us a message and include your UIUD which can be found by connecting your phone to Itunes and opening the phone interface and clicking the serial number. The next number and letter set will be the UIUD.

We hope to see you there and will give you our full support!