Credit:https://consumer.huawei.com

“Humanity became what it is because we learned to care for our sick.”

On October 22, 2024, Huawei held a press conference in Shenzhen, China, where it not only launched a new smartphone but also officially announced the complete independence of the HarmonyOS system. This announcement attracted global attention. However, what caught the eye of Medicine.net wasn’t the ecosystem of HarmonyOS, but rather its groundbreaking voice restoration feature.

Speech is the most direct way for individuals to express themselves. Unfortunately, due to illness or congenital factors, some people are unable to convey their thoughts in a way that others can understand. These individuals, part of the speech-impaired population, face unique communication challenges. According to China's Second National Sample Survey on Disability, there are an estimated 7 million people with speech disabilities in China, and more than 27 million people with hearing impairments. Despite their difficulties with communication, over 80% of people with hearing impairments still rely on spoken language for interaction. If these numbers are significant in China, the demand worldwide is undoubtedly even greater.

Before now, most language systems and hardware catered to hearing and visual needs of the hearing-impaired, but largely overlooked their need to communicate with the outside world. Humans are social creatures, and language is an essential tool for interaction. Without it, the psychological and physiological consequences are hard to predict.

This is where Huawei’s latest breakthrough offers a solution. The company developed a voice restoration feature for the hearing-impaired by collecting voice data from over 3,000 people across nearly 20 cities, and training a large language model using this data. Leveraging AI capabilities, Huawei's system can repair unclear speech, even during phone calls, providing real-time, clearer communication experiences for individuals struggling with speech recognition.

Huawei invited several hearing-impaired individuals to test the system, and the results were overwhelmingly positive. In addition, Huawei has committed to making its AI-based voice restoration algorithms and models open to the public, available to all developers and applications.

This year, from Apple’s launch to Huawei’s, Medicine.net has noticed that major tech companies are no longer solely focusing on the needs of the general population. Humanity advanced by learning to care for its ailing members, and this shift in focus by tech giants toward people with disabilities offers a path for those who have been excluded to reconnect with society. Technology changes lives, and it is at moments like these that we see it most clearly. We hope that more tech companies will join in this effort—not only ensuring the safety of the general population but also paying attention to vulnerable groups who need it most.

In closing, we congratulate Huawei on this innovation and hope the company continues to push forward in this important work.