In today's digital age, how to make more people equally enjoy the convenience brought by technology is a question that every responsible technology company should think about. In particular, people with disabilities are unable to use mobile phones and other technology products conveniently due to physical impairments. According to statistics, there are more than 85 million people with disabilities in the mainland, accounting for about 6% of the total population. How to use new technologies to bring convenience to their lives and work has become a topic of general concern in society.
Huawei has long been aware of the needs of people with disabilities and has continued to invest in the research and development of information accessibility technologies. At the ongoing Huawei Developer Conference 2024 (HDC 2024), a barrier-free themed salon called "Lakeside Dialogue" attracted widespread attention. The event not only showcased Huawei's latest progress in accessibility, but also conveyed the idea that technology should warm people's hearts and serve everyone.
Lakeside Dialogue: Let people with disabilities feel the temperature of science and technology
As one of HDC's most technologically warm signature events, this year's Lakeside Dialogue continues to invite guests from the handicap community. Zhu Yilin, a hearing-impaired user, Wu Liquan, a visually impaired user, and Zhang Junming, an elderly user, shared their urgent needs for accessibility features in their daily life and work, as well as their experiences with accessibility features such as screen reading and text-to-speech.
Zhu Yilin is not only a hearing-impaired person, but also a person at the forefront of scientific and technological information accessibility, and a staff member of the Vocational Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled in Xicheng District, Beijing. She said that the reason why she firmly uses Huawei is because "Huawei's ecosystem and all-scenario products are better accessible." At present, in my life scene, there are subtitle functions in many applications, and even if they are not available, they can be basically solved through Huawei's AI subtitle function, which can be said to be very good for the 'listening' and 'watching' of people with disabilities."
Huawei also invited representatives from ecosystem partners such as Xiaohongshu, Bank of Communications, and China Southern Airlines to have face-to-face exchanges with users with disabilities. By sharing barrier-free construction measures and cases, participants could get a closer understanding of the importance that Huawei and its ecosystem partners attach to barrier-free construction.
Huawei has always attached great importance to the development of accessibility features. He Gang, CEO of Huawei Device BG, said at the event that Huawei's accessibility services have been designed with core concepts in mind to ensure that each product can meet the needs of users with different disabilities. He introduced the latest HarmonyOS NEXT enhancements to accessibility features, and led the guests to experience new upgraded features such as AI sound restoration and accurate on-screen reading. Behind these innovative features is Huawei's long-term commitment to barrier-free construction.
Native HarmonyOS: Brings more innovative accessibility features
Since 2017, Huawei has successively provided users with disabilities with features such as screen reading, AI subtitles, and intelligent Q&A, enabling them to use their mobile phones from "usable" to "easy to use" and then to "smart".
The latest HarmonyOS NEXT is a full-stack self-developed device that is truly "native HarmonyOS". With the help of AI large model technology, Huawei has explored more innovative accessibility features in HarmonyOS NEXT.
To meet the social and expressive needs of hearing-impaired users, HarmonyOS NEXT uses AI technology to restore voices in real time, helping them express themselves more easily and clearly. To develop this feature, Huawei engineers worked closely with the China Disabled Persons' Federation to collect voice data from more than 3,000 people in nearly 20 cities for the training of large speech models.
For the visually impaired, understanding what's on the screen of their phone is a big challenge in itself. HarmonyOS provides the "Screen Reading" function, which allows you to wake up Xiaoyi by pressing and holding the power button on your Huawei phone, and say "Xiaoyi read/read/read aloud", and Xiaoyi will directly read the text on the screen or the text on the picture, so that the visually impaired can understand the content on the screen. HarmonyOS NEXT is equipped with a large AI model that can read aloud on the screen more accurately, making it the "eye" of the visually impaired.
In addition, visually impaired people are unable to understand their surroundings on a daily basis, which causes great distress. With HarmonyOS's "Intelligent Recognition" feature, Xiaoyi can recognize and broadcast the surrounding environment through voice, helping the visually impaired travel more conveniently. HarmonyOS NEXT also brings a visually-assisted intelligent Q&A function based on large AI models, "Xiaoyi Bangkan", which not only perfectly identifies environmental information, but also supports multiple rounds of conversations.
The demonstration of these features aroused an enthusiastic response from the audience. Zhu Yilin expressed her gratitude for Huawei's attention and support to the hearing-impaired user community, and believed that the launch of the AI sound restoration function will bring great benefits to the majority of hearing-impaired users.
HarmonyOS Ecology: Build a barrier-free ecology together
Huawei understands that building a barrier-free world is not something that can be done overnight, nor can it be accomplished by an enterprise alone. Up to now, all the TOP 5000 applications have started the development of HarmonyOS native applications, of which 1500+ applications have been put on the shelves. In the context of the prosperity and development of the HarmonyOS ecosystem, Huawei hopes to work with more ecosystem partners to work together to build barrier-free buildings.
At the lakeside dialogue, ecological partners such as Xiaohongshu, China Southern Airlines, and Bank of Communications shared their efforts in barrier-free construction. For example, Xiaohongshu has updated its live streaming and creative publishing features to adapt to HarmonyOS NEXT, so that visually impaired users can not only become followers of a better life, but also creators of Xiaohongshu content. The apps of China Southern Airlines and Bank of Communications have also launched special "elder versions" and "caring versions" to provide a more user-friendly experience for special groups.
To encourage more applications to be adapted to the accessibility features of the native HarmonyOS ecosystem, Huawei has launched a new accessibility kit to help developers efficiently develop and adapt accessibility features. In the HarmonyOS ecosystem, the buttons and text on the simple operation interface do not need additional accessibility adaptation, and can be automatically adapted to accessibility functions. For complex and dynamic pages, Huawei also calls on ecosystem partners to consider accessibility requirements during the development process. At the same time, Huawei has also set up a dedicated barrier-free development interface to support developers at any time.
He Gang emphasized that "the fertile soil of Hongmeng barrier-free is ready, and what kind of fruit will be bred on this land depends entirely on our ecological partners." He called on more applications to join the native HarmonyOS ecosystem and jointly create a more comfortable and convenient digital living environment for people with disabilities.
Summary:
Barrier-free construction is a long-term undertaking that requires the joint efforts of the whole society. Through continuous technological innovation and ecosystem cooperation, Huawei is injecting more warmth and care into the world. Through this lakeside dialogue, we saw the determination and actions of Huawei and many ecosystem partners in barrier-free construction. We look forward to witnessing a more equal and inclusive digital world in the near future.