Samsung Electronics R&D (UK) Institute

A Smart TV for Everyone

Sight is arguably the most important of our senses, yet there are over two million people in the UK living with some form of sight loss.  Now, with an ageing population, sight loss or vision impairment is becoming a more significant part of our lives. With this in mind, Samsung has been working hard to enhance the TV experience of those with varying degrees of sight loss in close partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). Through the RNIB, Samsung receives direct feedback from users with vision impairments. This work enables the RNIB to inform its community about Samsung TV features and provides Samsung TV designers with valuable information on how to improve.

Samsung is pushing the boundaries with its latest Voice Guide, expanding the functionality of its digital Text-to-Speech engine that is already a main-stream feature of its Smart TVs. Now the TV is able to use this engine to accurately announce on-screen text for selected Video on Demand applications, boosting information for the viewer. This is a huge improvement giving all consumers equal access to TV services and content.

Samsung’s efforts to create Smart TVs for everyone is truly global, with one of its latest applications “See colors” allowing users who have Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD) adjust their TV colour setting according to the strength and type of CVD they have. The impact of this is to make colours appear closer to those that would be seen by a viewer with normal colour vision, enabling users to see colour details they would not otherwise have been able to perceive, thus greatly increasing the enjoyment of the program being viewed. The application can even be used to help diagnose CVD.

Over 2 million people in the UK live with sight loss and CVD affects nearly 300 million people around the world. Samsung is extremely proud of the steps it is taking to use its technology to make a difference in people’s lives.