Everyday awareness
Important sounds and signals — alarms, doorbells, a name being called — should be noticeable even when they are not audible.
Accessibility
Technology that removes communication barriers.
softBrane develops technology that reduces communication barriers and supports day-to-day independence. It is core work — and a major reason this company exists.
- people need rehabilitation for disabling hearing loss today
- 430M
- people projected to have disabling hearing loss by 2050
- 1 in 10
- softBrane accessibility products in active development
- 3
Figures: World Health Organization, Deafness and hearing loss fact sheet, March 2026.
Why this work matters
The goal isn't accessibility language. It's useful tools.
Communication barriers show up at home, at work, in public, and in everyday digital interaction. Each product targets one of them directly.
Expression & identity
Communication tools should let sign language and deaf culture appear naturally in the digital spaces people use every day.
Real-time interpretation
Translation between sign, text, and speech creates real participation in education, at work, and in public services.
Product one
SilentEar
Sound awareness through visual and haptic alerts.
Detects important sounds — alarms, doorbells, someone calling a name — and turns them into clear visual or vibration alerts, with profiles for home, work, and travel.
- Real-time sound detection and categorisation
- Visual and vibration alert patterns
- Environment profiles for home, work, travel
Product two
SignMoji
Expressive digital communication rooted in sign language.
Sign-inspired emoji and stickers that bring deaf culture and sign expression naturally into everyday chat, social content, and learning.
- Sign-inspired emoji and sticker sets
- A bridge between mainstream chat and sign
- Useful for education and community engagement
Flagship accessibility product
MAR Translator
Real-time translation between sign, text, and speech.
A practical bridge for meetings, classrooms, and public interactions — so signing, reading, and spoken conversation can happen in the same room.
- Sign-to-text and speech-assisted workflows
- Built for education, work, and public services
- Improves continuously as models mature
Our commitment
Accessibility work deserves the same seriousness as any product investment.
That means product thinking, iteration, real use-case focus, and long-term improvement — tools that solve genuine problems, not signals of good intentions.
Practical first
We build for real daily interactions, not abstract accessibility promises.
Inclusive by design
Accessibility is a core requirement from day one — never a final pass.
Open to collaboration
Schools, communities, and organisations can partner with us as these products grow.
Partner with us
Building something accessibility-focused?
Organisations, educators, startups, and communities: let's talk about how this work can move forward together.