Inclusively Telecom

An inquisitive physicist view of audio accessibility and inclusion

Nick Hunn, a physicist with extensive experience in Bluetooth technology, discusses audio accessibility and inclusion. He highlights the shift from traditional telecoil-based hearing aids to advanced technologies that benefit everyone, not just those with hearing impairments. The new Bluetooth Auracast standard is a game-changer, enabling easy access to audio broadcasts and enhancing experiences in venues such as theaters and concerts.
 
Hunn emphasizes the importance of optimizing audio quality for all hearing levels and environments. He notes the trend of integrating hearing aid capabilities into consumer electronics, making them more accessible and reducing stigma. The discussion touches on the potential of audio technology to transform how we consume and interact with sound, including the use of smart devices and AI to enhance experiences.
The conversation also explores the challenges of background noise and the need for better audio algorithms. Hunn envisions a future where audio plays a more central role in our digital lives, with technology becoming more affordable and integrated into everyday experiences. The potential of voice and sound to provide information and guidance is highlighted, suggesting a shift towards more immersive and inclusive communication technologies.
You can find out more about Inclusively at https://senzafili.com/inclusively_in_telecom/
You can subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice, including Apple and Spotify

Captioning and other accessibility features going mainstream. With Larry Goldberg

Larry Goldberg, a media and technology accessibility consultant, shares his journey from public broadcasting to consulting, focusing on accessibility and inclusion. He introduced captioning and audio description at WGBH in Boston and later worked on accessibility initiatives at Yahoo. Larry emphasizes the importance of captions and audio descriptions, noting their widespread adoption and benefits for broader audiences.
He discusses the evolution of technologies, such as Auracast, that offers low-cost, high-quality audio solutions for venues. Larry highlights the potential of AI in accessibility, though he acknowledges the challenges of regulating AI due to its complexity. He advocates for inclusive design, emphasizing that good design inherently includes accessibility.
Larry also explores the role of haptic feedback in enhancing experiences for the visually impaired and the potential of AI to transform content delivery. He stresses the need for companies to prioritize accessibility and inclusivity in their products and services, aiming for a more customer-friendly and human-centric approach.
You can find out more about Inclusively at https://senzafili.com/inclusively_in_telecom/
Send us feedback, questions, and suggestions for guests and topics at inclusively@senzafili.com 
You can subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice, including Apple and Spotify

Designing for Inclusion. With Chris McGinley, Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design

Chris McGinley, a Senior Research Fellow at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, part of the Royal College of Art a wholly post graduate art and design institute in London, joined us for this Inclusively podcast. Chris is a Senior Research Fellow. He focuses on the ageing market and diverse user needs in design, but the Centre as a whole looks more broadly at Inclusive Design. In fact, the term Inclusive Design was coined by the original Director of the Centre, Roger Coleman, some thirty years ago. As you might suspect, this is not a technology-centric discussion!
More on Inclusively

Living the accessibility life, with Neil Milliken and Antonio Santos at Atos

Neil Milliken and Antonio Santos work for Atos, the global IT Digital Transformation & IT Services Organisation. For them, accessibility and inclusion cut across all domains. Neil and Antonio are also the founders of the AXSChat podcast, which has been running for over ten years and delivers regular content looking at the many aspects of accessibility and Inclusion. Their perspective is one based on delivering advice both within the Atos Group but also to their many clients.
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Wireless empowers the elderly to live on their own. With Ronnie Chang, ZTE

The elderly population is exploding, and so are their needs and desire to live a fulfilling and independent life and have easy and effective access to healthcare. Wi-Fi and cellular can be game-changing through sensing and home-based services.
I talked to Ronnie Chang, Marketing Director Fixed and Multimedia Terminals at ZTE, about a set of applications and services that are commercially deployed in China and that span a large ecosystem that includes vendors, application developers and health-care providers, in addition to the elderly population and their families.
You can watch a demo of the solution here.
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Closing the employment gap for disabled people with Jane Hatton, Evenbreak

Jane Hatton started Evenbreak to help employers to improve the recruitment of disabled people, not as a way to comply with regulation, but as an imperative to improve the quality of the workforce, and as an approach that helps everybody—enterprises, disabled people and everybody else. We deep-dived into the impact of AI in recruitment, the value of diversity in the workplace, and how telecom compares to other sectors.
Find out more about Inclusively Telecom and live Inclusively events here

Inclusively with Frances West | Putting humans first

Frances West has a vast experience in making technology more inclusive, that started when she was at IBM. She believes that technology can be a great enabler of inclusion if we put humans—all of them, with all their differences—first from design to market. An inclusive approach will drive demand, user satisfaction and profitability.
She also shared her advice for startups and established companies on how to drive an internal inclusivity strategy, and her views on the future of DEI.
Find out more about Inclusively Telecom and live Inclusively events here

Inclusively with Rupert Baines | AI and mental health

How should we make the workplace more inclusive for mentally ill and neurodiverse people? How will AI help in diagnosing, treating and helping mental illness? Will AI help disabled people to socialize or cause isolation? We explored these issues and more with Rupert Baines, Chair of the UKTIN Semiconductor Expert Working Group, who has been dealing with mentally ill and neurodiverse people working in his teams and trying to understand their needs and make the needed accommodations so that they could flourish in their job.
You can find out more about Inclusively Telecom and the live Inclusively events at
https://senzafili.com/inclusively_in_telecom/
Send us feedback, questions, and suggestions for guests and topics at inclusively@senzafili.com 
You can subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice, including Apple and Spotify.

Inclusively with Mansoor Hanif | The cities of the future

We were joined on Inclusively by Mansoor Hanif, recently of Neom, previously with BT/EE and Ofcom. Mansoor is currently enjoying himself as an angel investor (for instance in Darabase) and strategic advisor after his recent stint in the desert. He brings vast experience to the discussion about how we build more inclusive cities in the future. His ideas will make you think differently about how we live our urban lives going forward.
You can find out more about Inclusively Telecom and the live Inclusively events at
https://senzafili.com/inclusively_in_telecom/
Send us feedback, questions, and suggestions for guests and topics at inclusively@senzafili.com 
You can subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice, including Apple and Spotify.

Inclusively with Giovanni Severini, Microsoft | Better sound quality for assistive hearing devices

Current Classic Audio Bluetooth connectivity to assistive hearing devices does not deliver a good quality of experience and requires too much power. Bluetooth Low Energy Audio (LE Audio) is a new technology for audio streaming over Bluetooth that allows audio devices to run longer on a charge, with increased audio quality and reduced latency.
We talked to Giovanni Severini, Principal Group Program Manager at Microsoft, about how LE Audio can help people with hearing impairment and how Microsoft supports the technology and has partnered with the hearing device ecosystem to ensure the new technology is rapidly adopted by vendors and users.
Watch Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger's demo on the solution mentioned by Giovanni:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuU2YJohuZE&t=3440s
For more information:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/accessible-technology-products#areaheading-uid4a20
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-hearing-devices-with-your-windows-11-pc-fcb566e7-13c3-491a-ad5b-8219b098d647
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrN4TOkVL0M
https://www.engadget.com/ai/microsoft-recruits-accessibility-app-to-make-its-ai-more-useful-to-blind-and-low-vision-users-130006439.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=linkedin
You can find out more about Inclusively Telecom and the live Inclusively events at
https://senzafili.com/inclusively_in_telecom/
Send us feedback, questions, and suggestions for guests and topics at inclusively@senzafili.com 
You can subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice, including Apple and Spotify.

Inclusively with Salesforce | Building accessibility into products from scratch

Salesforce has built accessibility and inclusive design into its processes, products and services and established an accessibility group at the heart of the business. Its multi-pronged approach benefits from executive buy-in and builds up from the bottom with a specialist accessibility team spreading the word throughout the organization.
In this Inclusively conversation, Jacqui Tolisano  Senior Director, Product Accessibility and Adam Rodenbeck, Senior Digital Accessibility Engineer at Salesforce, joined Chris Lewis and Monica Paolini to explore how this inclusive approach works within the Salesforce model and how their lessons learned can be applied to the telecoms industry.
 
You can find out more about Inclusively Telecom and the live Inclusively events at
https://senzafili.com/inclusively_in_telecom/
Send us feedback, questions, and suggestions for guests and topics at inclusively@senzafili.com 
You can subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice, including Apple and Spotify

Inclusively with BeMyEyes | Creating a more accessible world with AI for blind people

Be My Eyes is a fantastic example of how human volunteers and, now, AI, leveraging the power of smart phones, can help blind people interact with the world around them. From a simple start using the phone camera to help guide someone around their home, it has now evolved into a global business helping blind people, as well as businesses serving their blind and vision impaired customers.  
Chris and Monica talked to Hans Jørgen Wiberg, Founder, and Jesper Hvirring Henriksen, CTO at Be My Eyes.
Read Chris' summary of the podcast at 
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-eyes-creating-more-accessible-world-ai-chris-lewis-otmpe
You can find out more about Inclusively Telecom and the live Inclusively events at
https://senzafili.com/inclusively_in_telecom/
Send us feedback, questions, and suggestions for guests and topics at inclusively@senzafili.com 
You can subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice, including Apple and Spotify

Inclusively Telecom: Introduction

Chris Lewis and Lewis Insight, and Monica Paolini at Senza Fili, the hosts of Inclusively Telecom introduce the new podcast. They talk about the format, goals, topic and approach.
You can find out more about Inclusively Telecom and the live Inclusively events at
https://senzafili.com/inclusively_in_telecom/
Send us feedback, questions, and suggestions for guests and topics at inclusively@senzafili.com 
You can subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice, including Apple and Spotify

Inclusively | How can both women and men benefit from gender diversity?

Diversity benefits everyone—people, businesses and customers. How can we improve gender diversity in the workplace, in our daily work practices and in our environment to benefit both women and men? In this Inclusively conversation, in collaboration with UKTIN, women and men compare their perspectives on how gender diversity plays out and how to create a work environment and career opportunities that fit everybody.
Chris Lewis and Monica Paolini hosted this conversation with Lesley Holt at UKTIN, Marc Gilmour at ConnectiviTree, and Vicky Messer at Picocom, starting with three questions:
What is the impact of imbalanced workplaces?
What do women and men want? Is it different? How?
How can women and men jointly make the workplace more flexible and open to encourage women’s participation?

Inclusively | Can Wi-Fi sensing help elderly and disabled people?

Inclusivity starts at home. Being able to live independently at home is, for many of us, fundamental to our quality of life. How can technology help us live on our own more safely and give our caretakers better tools to assist us?
We talked to Saibal Chakraburtty, Director of Product Management at Cognitive Systems, about how Wi-Fi sensing can do this.
Wi-Fi sensing uses the Wi-Fi radio signal to detect motion within the Wi-Fi network coverage area. Unlike location-based services, sensing detects the motion of people, pets or objects that have no connected device or sensor, making it very inobtrusive to deploy and operate. In a home environment, it is more respectful of privacy boundaries and does not require a smart home separate infrastructure.
By tracking human motion in a residential environment, Wi-Fi sensing can detect anomalies (e.g., your mother did not get up this morning, or your father keeps going out of the house for hours at unusual hours) or other patterns that may alert caretakers or trigger an emergency response. We talked about what the technology can do, how it can be deployed and operated, how can Wi-Fi sensing services be deployed, and what are the use cases for elderly and disabled people who want to live on their own.

Inclusively | Driving accessibility, inclusion and diversity from the top at Colt

Rachel Collins, Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Colt joined us in this Inclusively event. Rachel brings a wealth of experience and will describe how accessibility, inclusion and diversity form a key part of building the business and culture of which Colt is rightly very proud. This comes from the very top of Colt and the CEO’s very open ESG agenda. 

Inclusively | AI and ML: friend or foe of inclusion?

AI and ML are powerful tools that can improve our lives, but also can create social and economic challenges, and increase inequality. What role can they play in promoting inclusion, reducing biases, helping people with physical and mental disabilities? Or can they hinder these efforts? Is there something we need to do to ensure that AI and ML will bring a positive contribution?
Our guest was Greg Mayo at NETSCOUT, an expert on AI and ML with experience in mentoring and volunteering youth facing challenging social conditions. We talked about how these new technologies can improve these experiences and conditions.

Inclusively: Building inclusion at TELUS

Ibrahim Gedeon, CTO at TELUS, joined us in a live conversation to explore how he sees the organization and the wider ecosystem building towards a more inclusive future both inside of the telco but also extending out to customers in Canada.
We explored how technology and business model shifts bring many exciting opportunities to build a better-connected society and industries. Ibrahim shared his perspectives on how technology and culture shape this transformation. Never shy to share his opinions on key matters, Ibrahim was instantly up to join us to discuss how we build this more inclusive future.

Inclusively: How can women succeed and improve the workplace?

This year, at Inclusively, we celebrated our first International Women’s Day as we are still in our early infancy, having launched it last fall, with a wide-ranging conversation on how gender diversity is valuable in telecoms for women, men and business. 
Increasing women’s participation in the workforce, especially at high levels, is more than a box to check or a quota to meet. It improves profitability and the workplace for everybody and gives women the opportunities they deserve. Yet it also requires real work – we need to actively change the way we operate as an industry to increase women’s participation in the workforce. 
In this Inclusively event, Antonella Faniuolo, Head of Network Demand Planning Delivery and Transformation for Europe at Vodafone, and Eugina Jordan, CMO at Telecom Infra Project (TIP), shared their experience and vision, and told us what they are doing to increase gender diversity in the workplace both strategically and in their daily activities.

Inclusively | Thinking inclusively in telecoms

A more inclusive approach from all parts of the communications industry will bring benefits to everyone. It will open access to digital services to those formerly excluded. It will create new services. It will generate new revenue opportunities. And it will underpin the customer experience every customer expects.
Chris Lewis, Lewis Insight, and Monica Paolini, Senza Fili, discuss how inclusive design can benefit all parties involved in the ecosystem. And, in case you think this doesn’t impact your business, we want to convince you that it does: focusing on the customers often left on the sidelines will result in a better experience for all. Not only does this allow you to offer new services, but it also changes the way your workforce operates, your internal processes and your interaction with your customers. Being inclusive is not just the right thing to do: it is a way to get new revenues from neglected customers for services they need.
Many customer groups are excluded from the benefits of being connected for various reasons. People with disabilities, the elderly, and digitally impoverished users are groups with specific challenges that are ignored or addressed only by proprietary and expensive technologies or specialist providers. The result is a fragmented market that is ineffective at meeting their needs and unnecessarily separates them from mainstream users.
This is an initial conversation. We look for your input on how we should expand our work on this front. We plan to open our discussion in further conversations with service providers, vendors, regulators and researchers with the hope that inclusion and diversity will flip telecoms on its head and make the future of your organization and our industry more sustainable.