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around 30 million people with autism worldwide are semi-verbal along with hundreds of millions of others living with conditions that affect their speech. Well, one Israeli startup is taking on this challenge with something like a Google Translate for speech using AI to help people with verbal difficulties communicate more clearly. So, for more I'm now joined by Dor Alon Levy, founder and CEO of BarVox, and Orly Ziv, a speech therapist. Thank you very much for being with me today. Thanks for having us. Well, first of all, before we dive in, let's take a look at what you guys are exactly doing.
Okay. So, Dor, tell me, what did we just see and what do you actually do? Okay. So, what we saw just a moment ago is a daily event at our home when my son wish to ask wish to eat lunch, and the way he express it is shipui. Shipui in Hebrew it means shipui barbecue in English, and the application immediately translate it to lunch, and then he got lunch. Now, imagine if there was someone else, not someone who familiar with this dictionary, and he will continue on saying shipui, probably he will remain hungry and frustrated. Okay, so this is about my son. He's 27 years old. He's run marathons, read books, watch movies, and would like to be a part of us if we just let him do.
Um actually, I was his personal translator for the last 15 years. Whenever he go to any kind of activity, his caregivers, teachers, and coach both call me every 1 hour and ask he ask for this and that. We do not understand. Can you translate it immediately online? So, currently with a Barvox application, they do not call anymore. So, as I gather, you translate your son's speech, but how does it work for people who for other people who are speech impaired? Because you have a lot of people who do it and they can use it the same way you use it for your son? Yes, yes, I will actually Barvox is a personalized Google Translate. If Google Translate French English to Chinese or other, we actually translate unstandard verbal
expressions into natural language. You can say that Google learns languages and Barvox learns people. So, that's what we are doing. We actually uh listen and decode any verbal profile of each person and by doing that we are able from now on whenever he express something to translate it to natural language. That's will help all the others all the people around him to understand him very clear and we do not stop the flow of the conversation. So, Orly, tell me because you're a speech therapist, how big of a game changer is Barvox? It could be a very big game changer because it's immediate and it's it translates the unique verbal expression of the person.
Um there are many AACs or communication application and devices, but they're they can be kind of cumbersome because uh people have to scroll through words and symbols to find what they want to say and sometimes it's not there. Or they can type the ones who can type um a message and then it will be verbally um there's an a verbal output. But Barvox can translate immediately what the person says, their own unique words, right away. So, it's not as cumbersome and it's very immediate. Conversations can really slow down with standard communication devices, um which can cause frustration. And with BarVox, it will be more natural. So then, let me ask you to the both of you, like what is the biggest
success here? What do you hope to achieve in the future and what are you most proud of? Okay. Actually, uh success or we will be proud if we succeed to assist million of people around 350 million people which is on the spectrum disorder or ALS or aphasia, who has a verbal challenges, uh to participate in their life with us, to be a part of their society. They can have independence, they can have families, they can work, they can have career. And the only thing that actually uh um prevent them from doing that is the communication barrier and BarVox eliminate this barrier. And for you, Orly? For me, um yeah, it's just another communication application that can work very well for students who are who have It's very challenging for
them to use other communication devices. Um I've seen many iPads broken and thrown across the room because it can be so frustrating and so hard for people to find the words they want communicate and in this way, it's not going to be the case. So, I No more iPhones will be broken. So, that's a good thing. Well, it's an amazing story also with your son, Bar. We wish him all the best, of course. Dor Levy, founder and CEO of BarVox and Orly Ze'ev, speech therapist. Thank you so much for being with me today. Thank you for having us.
