Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Educational Assets
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Blappy, A New Bluetooth Chat App For People With Sensorial Disability

October 7, 2016 By Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Researchers at the Spanish Center of Subtitling and Audiodescription (Centro Español de Subtitulado y Audiodescripción – CESyA), which comes under the Board of Trustees on Disabilities (Real Patronato sobre Discapacidad) and is managed by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), have developed Blappy, an application that enables chat communication via Bluetooth between two people with functional disabilities.

Blappy is currently available for mobile phones that have the Android operating system. Developers are working on a version that will work on phones with Apple’s iOS platform. (Credit: UC3M)

Blappy is a smartphone application that enables fluid communication between people with visual and/or auditory disabilities. Voice messages can be changed into text and vice versa. In addition, high contrast images can be included, and the screen has a zoom feature. It is also compatible with the TalkBack accessibility service. To use the service, it is only necessary to have the app installed in two terminals that are less than 30 meters (98.4 feet) apart and in a closed Bluetooth environment. Once the user is registered, there are two ways to send messages: Either using voice recognition or a keyboard.

This application could be of interest for many users. In Spain alone there are nearly one million visually handicapped people and nearly one million more with auditory impairment, according to CESyA. The application is available in four languages (Spanish, French, English and Portuguese), but its technology allows conversations to be translated into all of the languages that the Google Translator service recognizes.

Blappy is currently available for mobile phones that have the Android operating system; using it simply requires downloading the app in the Play Store and enabling Bluetooth to connect with another smartphone that also has the app installed. Nevertheless, its developers are already working on a version that will work on phones with Apple’s iOS platform.

In the words of Belén Ruiz Mezcua, associate professor of UC3M’s Computer Science department and the general director of CESyA, “This initiative represents a commitment to accessibility and is an example of technology transfer in the service of society’s needs.” In the same way, “it achieves the paradigm of design that is accessible for everyone,” states Adrián Baeza, CESyA researcher and one of the professionals involved in the project’s launch.

This project has been carried out with the support of UC3M’s Audiovisual Accessibility Laboratory (Laboratorio de Accesibilidad Audiovisual), which is staffed by 19 professionals and is part of the Center for Technologies for Disability and Dependence in UC3M’s Science Park.

(Source: AlphaGalileo)

Related Articles Read More >

An image showing the Johnson & Johnson MedTech Monarch system's controller and scope.
J&J MedTech arms its Monarch robot for futuristic lung cancer therapies
An image of the KIFFIK Lab system for ISF analysis.
Tapping into the body’s ISF ‘superhighway’ for early disease detection
An artist's rendering depicting the Vail Scientific VSNO device for rapid sepsis diagnosis.
First Look: Vail Scientific’s redesigned VSNO device for rapid sepsis screening
Brain EEG rendering from peterschreiber.media on Adobe Stock
Hidden signatures in EEGs could reduce epilepsy misdiagnoses
“mdo
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest medical device business news, application and technology trends.

DeviceTalks Weekly

See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to our E-Newsletter
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media LLC. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Educational Assets
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe