Unfear App

Samsung Espana and Cheil Worldwide Spain have created a ground-breaking AI app for people with autism that autonomously turns down the volume on fear-triggering sounds they find disturbing without isolating them by cancelling out noise altogether.

The app is the first ever smart noise-management app that works in real-time to enable people to manage individual sounds to suit their needs.

Autism affects around 70 million people globally and many people with autism have auditory sensitivity which can lead to discomfort and anxiety in reaction to certain sounds. The solution is often noise-cancelling headphones that block out all sounds which leads to complete audio isolation.

Samsung’s advanced-AI app, called Unfear, works with Samsung Galaxy Buds to filter known trigger sounds, including sounds personalized to the user, in order to protect, calm and assist people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and hearing disorders.

Being able to filter certain sounds, as opposed to cancelling out noise altogether, allows people with autism to continue to feel more connected in their everyday lives.

Through machine learning, an algorithm scans thousands of audio libraries in real time, reducing the volume of specific pre-selected noises that cause stress to the individual user, such as sirens, metro noise, street works, barking dogs, ambulances, or crying children - going beyond noise cancellation which isolate users. Unfear continuously listens, pinpointing every sound to suppress only the noises that affect the user.

As well as external environment sounds, Unfear filters sounds in all forms of content coming in from within devices and mobile phones across gaming, streaming, movies, music and social media content.

For emergency situations, the app can be voice controlled, allowing users to immediately seek a ‘calm mode’ in particularly stressful moments. There is also an SOS option where users can automatically call their emergency contact to get help.

Research and testing for the app was conducted in partnership with ten Spanish autism organisations - Autism Madrid Federation, Catalan Autisme Federation, Asperger New Life, Nuevo Horizonte Association, Cepri Association for the Research and Study of Mental Deficiency, ADISGUA, Guadarrama Association for People with Disabilities, SumateA and Sur Madrid Autism Spectrum Disorder – as well as over 100 ASD patients and their families.