Anne

The app that lets deafblind
people listen and write to you.


Thanks to the aid of haptic technology, gestures and morse, Anne is the new standard for deafblind independendence and communication.

Who is Anne?

Anne Sullivan was Helen Keller's teacher who helped her since she was 7 years old to study and graduate cum laude.
Anne today is the personal assistant for deafblind around the world. We work hard to ensure you a smooth user experience that doesn't rely on any external keyboards or devices. Check out the research and the case study to see how we help our users.
Our roadmap includes many new functions and an entire Anne environment, so make sure to follow and support our journey.

Explore how it works

Deafblind people can't see the screen nor hear the voice over. So we developed an app that can be felt.
Anne is completely powered by gestures and vibrations so you don't have to even look at the screen while you are using it. The entire screen is your canvas and the gestures that are needed to learn will become muscle memory before you would even realize. The International Morse Code will allow you to chat with anyone, even people who don't know the code, cause the app will speak up what you type, and translate into morse vibrations what it hears.

An overlooked condition

Deafblindness refers to a condition in which a person has both significant hearing and vision loss, which may vary in degree and cause. Individuals who are deafblind often face unique challenges in communication, access to information, mobility, and social interaction. The combined loss of hearing and vision significantly impacts their ability to perceive and interact with the world.The number of people who experience deafblindness can vary globally and may be difficult to determine precisely. Estimates suggest that 15 million of people worldwide live with some degree of deafblindness. It is important to note that not all individuals with hearing and vision loss identify as deafblind, as the condition can exist in various forms and severity levels.

With Anne, deafblind people can complement expensive and impractical devices, and most importantly they can find a renewed independence, to travel, walk around, go to the pharmacy by themselves, have a conversation with people who don’t know their primary communication language as Malossi or tactile ASL.

News of the Anne World

Stay up to date about the Anne world. Follow our progress, achievements and updates.

The Team

Privacy Policy

Our app uses microphone and speech recognition.
We don't collect any of your data.

News


July 11th, 2023

Tactile art exhibition

Helen Keller Services and The Art Guild Present "Journey Through Touch:
A Tactile Art Experience."
This unique exhibit focuses on the sense of touch, where you can feel the shapes and textures that bring these creations to life. Each piece carries a unique narrative, created by DeafBlind and blind artists of Helen Keller Services. Opening reception on August
8th at 6 pm.
Exhibit dates: August 4-18, 2023.
The Art Guild 200 Port Washington Blvd.
Manhasset, NY 11030 ù


Jun 9th, 2023

Back from Cupertino

What a fantastic experience! We did not win, but the validation we got has been very important, as well the feedback received by the Apple Accessibility Team.


May 19th, 2023

Finalists of the Apple Design Awards

What makes us the most happy is that this nomination will help shed light on an overlooked neurodiversity, and ultimately to help more people be included. It will give the recognition needed to spread the app even further and make it become a benchmark in the industry.
Not only. We want Anne to be taught at deafblind schools, at associations like Molly Watt Trust, or Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults
With Anne, deafblind people can substitute (enormously) expensive and impractical devices, and most importantly they can find a renewed indipendence, to travel, walk around, go to the pharmacy by themselves, have a conversation with people who don’t know their primary communication language as Malossi or tactile ASL.We are small, but determined and driven. Our roadmap is moving and we are going to create a whole Anne environment to be useful in several situations. Stay tuned ⚡️


May 18th, 2023

GAAD

Global Accessibility Awareness Day
Today is The 11th Global Accessibility Awareness Day!
The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access/inclusion and people with different disabilities. Anne helps deafblind people to communicate everyday, read our story on the App Store 💕 #inclusion #digital #people


May 4th, 2023

18th Deafblind International World Conference
Anne Team will be presenting as a Poster at this fantastic conference.
Come get one of our pins!


November 4th, 2023

5 Minutes with a Founder

The fabulous Brandi Holder wrote an article about Anne and how we interact with users to make our product better. Read it it here


October 1st, 2022

Anne is App of the Day in 31 countries

There are 2.5 million of apps on the App Store.
But today. we. are. App. of. The. Day. 🧡
“A great idea can change the world".


July 7th, 2022

Find it in the Accessibility Collection


July 7th, 2022

First in Medicine Category


News


May 19th, 2023

Finalists of the Apple Design Awards

What makes us the most happy is that this nomination will help shed light on an overlooked neurodiversity, and ultimately to help more people be included. It will give the recognition needed to spread the app even further and make it become a benchmark in the industry.
Not only. We want Anne to be taught at deafblind schools, at associations like Molly Watt Trust, or Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults
With Anne, deafblind people can substitute (enormously) expensive and impractical devices, and most importantly they can find a renewed indipendence, to travel, walk around, go to the pharmacy by themselves, have a conversation with people who don’t know their primary communication language as Malossi or tactile ASL.We are small, but determined and driven. Our roadmap is moving and we are going to create a whole Anne environment to be useful in several situations. Stay tuned ⚡️


May 18th, 2023

GAAD

Global Accessibility Awareness Day
Today is The 11th Global Accessibility Awareness Day!
The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access/inclusion and people with different disabilities. Anne helps deafblind people to communicate everyday, read our story on the App Store 💕 #inclusion #digital #people


May 4th, 2023

18th Deafblind International World Conference
Anne Team will be presenting as a Poster at this fantastic conference.
Come get one of our pins!


November 4th, 2023

5 Minutes with a Founder

The fabulous Brandi Holder wrote an article about Anne and how we interact with users to make our product better. Read it it here


October 1st, 2022

Anne is App of the Day in 31 countries

There are 2.5 million of apps on the App Store.
But today. we. are. App. of. The. Day. 🧡
“A great idea can change the world".


July 7th, 2022

Find it in the Accessibility Collection


July 7th, 2022

First in Medicine Category


The Research

User research plays a vital role in creating inclusive and accessible designs. Let's delve into the remarkable work of the team Anne, who conducted qualitative research with deafblind individuals. By focusing on their unique needs and experiences, Anne's research offers valuable insights into designing a product that cater to this often overlooked community.

Methodology:The team adopted a qualitative research approach to gain a deeper understanding of the needs and preferences of deafblind individuals. This involved working closely with a diverse group of testers, incorporating a range of communication techniques, and employing adaptive research methods to accommodate their sensory limitations, including the presence of an interpreter. The research process was built on empathy, collaboration, and respect for individual differences.

User Recruitment:To ensure a representative sample, we sought out participants from various backgrounds and with different degrees of visual and hearing impairments. We partnered with "Lega del Filo D'oro" and "UICI" and "Helen Keller Toronto" "Sense India" serving the deafblind and blind community.
We used a combination of techniques to effectively communicate with the participants. For those with residual vision or hearing, she utilized written and spoken language, sign language interpreters, and enlarged text. For those with severe impairments, she relied on tactile sign language, haptic feedback devices, and Braille.

Key Takeaways

Throughout the research process, Anne uncovered several key insights that shed light on the needs and preferences of deafblind individuals:Multimodal Communication:
Deafblind individuals heavily rely on tactile and auditory cues for communication. Designing products and interfaces that offer multiple modes of communication, such as haptic feedback and high pitched sound-based alerts, can significantly enhance their user experience.
Accessibility:
Ensuring accessibility is crucial for deafblind users. Nowadays they are not served by technology as deaf or blind are. We discovered that even blind people would enjoy the features of Anne in noisy environments.
Personalization:
Deafblind individuals appreciate customizable settings that allow them to adapt interfaces according to their specific needs. Offering gesture-based input, and preferred haptic feedback patterns can empower users to tailor their experience.
Social Inclusion:
Many deafblind individuals expressed a desire for increased social interaction. Anne's research highlighted the importance of incorporating features that facilitate communication and connection with others, such as real-time transcription services, independence, and accessible interactions
Conclusion:
Anne's qualitative research with deafblind individuals highlights the significance of considering their specific needs and preferences in the design process.

Facts

01
Each country has a different method to
communicate. In Italy it's Malossi.
02
Many people don't even know about deafblindess.
03
Communicating is very hard when by themselves, jeopardizing independence.
04
They would love to be free from external devices such as expensive keyboards.

The user we have been working with, and also those who gave us feedback after using the app, have very intersting approach to technology. For example Annarita is heavily reliant on the Apple framework, and she loves using her watch, even to feel the time with the vibration. They all use features such as rotator and external devices that help them get by.This research has been very intense, we would love to chat more about it over a coffe or a videocall, and if you would like to collaborate please don't hesitate to contact us.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions for AnneWe know how important user's privacy is. That's why this app does not collect any kind of personal data from the user.
Anne requires your permission to access to the microphone for the speech recognition process.
Speech recognition can optionally connect to Apple's servers to complete the process.

Dream Team


Nothing left to chance

Every aspect of Anne has been carefully thought through by the design team to ensure the best possible experience at this stage. For example, we manually designed the vibration pattern for the listening interface.
Keep reading to learn more.


Anne is all about making the difference

Anne was created for deafblind people, who can't access the current accessibility tools.
They can't see the screen, nor hear the voiceover. That is why we created an app that
doesn't neet to be seen nor heard. Anne can be felt.
Powered by haptics and gestures, the app can be completely navigated without looking.
Thanks to the international Morse code we want to give deaf-blind people the opportunity
of being indipendent, and to communicate with others.

Accessibility at its finest

Everything in the app is tailored to their experience. For example, many accessibility tools consume battery therefore users leave the screen brightness to the minimum. If the interface is BLACK, then the screen does not use any battery to lighten the pixels. That is one of the reasons why the app looks like that.
The Primary color is just right for those who use Negative Color accessibility functions.
After conducting user interviews and passing the feasibility tests,
we focused on making an accessible flow, with coherent gestures that would apply throughout the whole app.
Finally also deafblind people can "hear", and only it takes it a 2-seconds-long tap. The App will automatically translate from Voice to Morse.
Listening, writing and speaking, will not be an barrier anymore.
We planned a learning curve of 15 minutes, and an onboarding to be set up with the caregiver.

Use of shortcuts and back taps

How they open the app?As you can imagine so far, deafblinds cannot orient themselves and can't really open an app without a braille keyboard. Infact, if they became blind later, they will not even know braille.
We took advantage of the shortcut functionality and we made it possible that they can find their way back to the app anytime.
We open the app with a double back tap.
Brilliant, right?

As I mentioned before, the users can press for two seconds anywhere on the screen to "listen" to person speaking next two you.This screen is thought so that anyone can see that they are listening, The strong orange and the storng contrast ensure that even with minumum brightness will be possible to understand what is happening and to read "I am listening" from both sides of the phone.At this point you might ask yourself how does a deafblind person know when their interlocutor is done speaking or not. Well, we did some magic here too.We created our own haptic pattern. The phone practically vibrates while someone is speaking, similarly to what we feel in our chest.The App recognizes when someone stops speaking, so it stops listening and start translating into Morse. All automatic.Believe me, it's harder to explain than to experience it.

Highly curated experience

Like every new device for accessibility, also our App needs to be set up with a caregiver. We thought it was fundamental to offer them the smoothest and nicest experience. On the main screen the caregiver will find, in the point that is hardest to reach with our hands, a drop down menu, where he can recall some functions if needed. Have a peak of some screens of the onboarding. [low res]

Thank you for reading ♥