BELFAST-based technology specialist Liopa, which last year launched the world’s first automated lip reader, has secured its first commercial contract with a UK based hospital for its artificial intelligence lip-reading app SRAVI (Speech Recognition Application for the Voice Impaired).
Following significant investment in research and development (R&D) with the support of Invest NI, SRAVI is now licensed for use across inpatient units at the Royal Preston Hospital in England.
The start-up's co-founder and chief technology officer Fabian Campbell-West said: “We have developed SRAVI specifically for ICU and critical care patients who have lost the ability to speak for numerous reasons, including tracheostomies.
“Essentially, the technology brings a voice to the voiceless by using visual speech recognition and AI technology to support patients, deciphering speech from lip movements.
“Patients mouth words into their smartphone camera and the SRAVI app will read out what they are saying. This improves communication between patients, families and healthcare staff, which is so important for patient care and wellbeing.”
Established in 2015, Liopa is a spin-out SME from the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at Queen’s University and has also undertaken a knowledge transfer partnership with QUB as the academic partner which helped it to enhance the system’s audio speech recognition.
Fabian added: “We’re proud to be leading the way in a first of its kind technology which has helped us to secure our first contract with Royal Preston Hospital.
“Moving forward, we want to help people with various medical conditions including stroke, trauma and paralysis and hope to see SRAVI implemented in more hospitals across the UK and beyond.
“We’re also excited to see where SRAVI will take us, with plans to move into new sectors including Automotive, Digital Healthcare, Finance and Security markets.”
Invest Northern Ireland offered Liopa £289,423 of support towards R&D to develop its visual speech recognition system, secure international patents and undertake marketing activities.
Dr Vicky Kell, Invest NI’s director of innovation, research and development, said: “Liopa is an ambitious company that has shown how strategic investment in R&D can lead a company to be more competitive.
“We’ve supported Liopa’s growth since its inception, helping it to create intelligent, pioneering products that are a real benefit to the healthcare sector. I'm pleased our support, combined with a KTP, has helped it to secure this significant contract with Royal Preston Hospital.”
