Sebastion Christian of Otosense is Today’s Honoree

Sebastion Christian is striving to change the lives of the deaf and hard of hearing. He just recently released an application in the Google Play Store called Otosense. It’s an innovative new idea and I think it has the ability to greatly improve the lives of many deaf and hard-of-hearing members.

How did the OtoSense dream come true? Let Sebastion tell you himself.

As a speech and language pathologist, I have been working with and for deaf and hard of hearing people for 15 years, helping them to develop their communications abilities using sign and oral languages. During this time, I also studied semantics and physics, earning a master’s degree in both, and began exploring the use of technology in helping people to live more autonomous lives.

A few years ago while I was traveling for work with my colleague, who is deaf, I soon realized that there was one problem that had no real solution yet: awareness of important industrial and environmental sounds.

Within days of learning of her situation, I developed a provisional application that turned her smartphone into a personal alerting device, triggered by a high frequency noise like a fire or smoke alarm, something which she is unable to hear when she removes her hearing aids. For my colleague, my quick fix solution meant getting a good night’s sleep while on the road, and for me it was the beginning of more research and development.

In the fall of 2013, nearly two years later, I finished the prototype and formed the company, Otosense, in order to further develop the technology — a next generation acoustic recognition engine that is able to describe environmental sounds and infer what are their sources…. and to deliver it, as first imagined, to smartphones.

OtoSense answers the question – What is that sound? OtoSense can be used at home, at work, school, or anywhere you go… as chances are you’ll have your smartphone. In doing so, you’ll teach OtoSense the sounds around you that are important to you and you don’t want to miss.

Visit OtoSense for more information.