Olivier is quite a remarkable chap. Not only is he the co-founder and CEO of RogerVoice, a start-up on a mission to make the phone accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing people worldwide. He is deaf and relies on lip-reading most the time. We’re grateful Olivier has made time in his busy schedule to keynote at TADSummit, and share his experiences in building a company on telecom APIs.

Hearing loss affects over 40% of seniors, for whom telephone conversations can be difficult. I experience this with my mum who has just turned 68, even though she has a hearing aid she finds it annoying to use, so does not.

RogerVoice is an app that subtitles phone conversations in real time, so that you can read what the other person is saying.  The app intercepts the recipient’s voice to transcribe it. A third-party real time transcription service pushes the result to your phone. It works in a dozen of languages.

On the other end of the call, the recipient can hear the RogerVoice user like a normal phone call. This is key to using a service like this one. The people you call don’t have to install an app and there is no third-party human involved. RogerVoice is here when you need it, it just works.

Back in September 2014 the RogerVoice project got off to an incredible start on Kickstarter. They blew past their $ 20 000 fund raising goal in just one week. Finishing the campaign in 30 days and raising $35 000. And are just about to launch their IoS and Android apps.

RogerVoice’s partners include Agoranov, Apidaze (a TADSummit sponsor), Institut de la Vision, TheFamily, and SenseCube.

Check out the amazing TADSummit agenda. Don’t waste your time at MWC or at all the weak-minded ‘digital events’. TADSummit is the only one worth your time, all the telecom app development ecosystem will be there.