Exciting Highlights from CSUN, the World’s Largest Assistive Technology Conference.
By Laetitia L. Thompson, Senior Digital Content Editor at the Centre for Accessibility, Australia.
The California State University, Northbridge Centre of Disabilities (CSUN), once again held its annual CSUN Assistive Technology Conference this month in California at the Anaheim Marriott.
What was particularly exciting was a showcase led by Sony, as an exhibitor. These are a few announcements that may be of interest to seniors with disability:
• BRAVIA™ 4K LCD TV
Guests of the conference were able to experience the Text Magnification Function of the TV, which magnifies text on the screen. Simply by talking to the TV, users can utilise voice commands to do such things as adjusting the volume and searching for videos on Youtube, as BRAVIA is equipped with Google Assistant.
• Alpha™ Interchangeable-Lens Camera and Cyber-Shot Retinal Projection Camera Kit
With a screen reader feature reading menus and video playback screens, these select digital cameras users’ camera operations. 10 languages on an Alpha camera are also supported.
• Xperia 1 IV
These series of smartphones are equipped with accessibility features assisting with vision, hearing and action such as the Google Screen reader TalkBack.
• Self-fitting Over-the-Counter (OTC) Hearing Aids
While currently only available in the US, this is still an exciting development. Launching in October 2022, the CRE-C10 has a discreet design and the CRE-10 comes with Bluetooth and a streaming music playback. A smartphone application allows users to customise their hearing.
These are all exciting updates and just shows how accessible the world is becoming. For more information about CSUN, go to the CSUN website.