
Google’s Look to Speak app will help non-verbal people communicate on the go. It’s rolling out widely on Tuesday on Android 9.0 and up. The app presents a few options of phrases, and you choose the one you want with a glance. Your phone will then speak that phrase for you.
Designed primarily for those with speech and motor impairments, the app was developed with speech and language therapist Richard Cave. It uses the machine learning built into your smartphone to tell where you are looking so you can use eye movement to say the phrase you choose.
Cave noted in Tuesday’s blog post that the app works best in conjunction with a specialized communication device with built-in eye gaze technology. Because it’s an app on your phone, it can go where a machine like that can’t. Whereas a full-size machine lets you type your thoughts letter by letter, the Look to Speak app is intended to help you quickly get across an important idea.
The app will let you adjust the sensitivity and does offer ways to personalize the words and phrases it uses. Look to Speak was developed as part of Google’s experimental projects platform and all data collected by the app remains private.