People who are deaf or hard of hearing lack the innate ability to know what's going on around them because much of that situational awareness is driven by the ability to hear. Corrine Feight and Kristen Bell of Area 23 set out to find a way to help this community through technology and began a fateful journey that culminated in the creation of “See Sound.” See Sound by Wavio uses AI-powered machine learning to listen for common household sounds, such as glass breaking or a baby crying. Once detected, the technology sends a tailored smartphone notification to the user. Corrine and Kristen discussed the inspiration for the project, explained how AI was “trained” to recognize and differentiate sounds, and described the meeting that took See Sound from idea to reality.

See Sound is the ANA Multicultural Excellence Award Grand Prize Winner in the People with Disabilities category. The ANA Awards program celebrates great marketing and innovative thinking from the industry’s leading brands. For more information, go to ana.net/awards.