The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the world’s largest consumer technology exhibition and showcases the products likely to appear in our shops in the coming months. Here at CFA Australia, we’ve picked out our favourite mainstream and disability-specific devices including glasses that adjust to your prescription, a lamp that helps people with dyslexia, and a new TV display technology.
Quantum Dot OLED
The big talk of CES 2022 has been the new type of OLED TV produced by Samsung known as Quantum Dot OLED (QDOLED). The irony though is that it wasn’t Samsung that was the first consumer TV with the technology – that goes to the Sony A95K Serie. From a disability perspective, the improved brightness and improvements to the displaying of yellows can potentially improve the display for people that use high contrast colour themes. The Sony QDOLED will be available for purchase later in the year and other TVs with the new technology will follow shortly.
Deep Optics 32ºN adaptive focus sunglasses
Fed up having to carry around different sets of glasses for different occasions? What if glasses could self-focus to your prescription and instantly change from reading glasses to every day glasses and then to prescription sunglasses? This is the promise of the Deep Optics 32ºN adaptive focus sunglasses.
The Deep Optics 32ºN adaptive focus sunglasses can adapt their focus with a simple touch. Swipe your finger across the frames’ temple piece and the lens itself can adjust the prescription thanks to its pixelated liquid crystal layers that respond to a built-in processor. The accompanying app can make modifications to the amount of magnification, and even test your vision to see if your prescription might need changing. The sunglasses are available now for pre-order at $USD499 (approximately $700).
Eargo 6 hearing aids with Mask Mode
Hearing aids have been around for a long time, but never before have they had to consider how to improve audio quality when talking to someone wearing a mask due to COVID-19 health requirements.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjW1NPE_1Do
Enter the Eargo 6 hearing aid which features Mask Mode. Turning on mask mode helps to negate the muffling effect that mask-wearing causes, and as masks make it tougher for the hard of hearing to interpret sounds, this is a great feature.
The hearing aids are available now for $USD2,950 (approximately $4,135)
Whill Model Fi – thin and light motorised wheelchair
Traditionally motorised wheelchairs are great for getting around, but can be heavy and bulky when trying to transport them. The Whill Model Fi personal electric vehicle endeavours to address this. The chair can be adjusted between 140csm to 165cm to fit in the narrowest of spaces, and the width between armrests can be set to either 41cm or 72cm. It’s lightweight and foldable, and it can even be driven and locked remotely with an app. The wheelchair is scheduled for release in the second half of the year for $USD2,899 (approximately $4,060)
Lili Lamp
Photo of the Lili lamp
The last bit of tech that caught our eye this year is the Lili Lamp. This lamp is designed to help people with dyslexia. The lamp works by producing “imperceptible lights and flashes” that negate the mirror effect that can make it difficult to read. The lamp is available for $USD395 (approximately $550) .
That wraps it up for CES 2022. We’ll look forward to keeping you up to date on these and other important accessibility developments as the year progresses.