Allow visually impaired people to follow a sporting event as close as possible to the match. This was the goal of Arthur Chazelle, a 21-year-old from Toulouse, when he launched, in June 2022, the Touch2See tablet, capable of transcribing by touch and audio description the atmosphere of a football or rugby match for the blind.
Thanks to a magnetic cursor placed on the tablet representing a miniature sports field, the visually impaired person follows the ball and the actions of the players in real time thanks to vibrations. In a headset, a computerized audio description allows you to have tactical information such as the name of the player, the score or the playing time.
On the Touch2See tablet in the shape of a field, a magnetic cursor transcribes the actions of the players and the path of the ball to the visually impaired, all complemented by computerized audio description. DR
"The situation is sad," admits Arthur Chazelle. In 2023, blind people still cannot follow a match despite technical innovations. They only had access to the audio description set up in five stadiums and which remained limited for the follow-up of the match. Arthur Chazelle collaborated with multiple associations working on the visually impaired to develop Touch2See.
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The idea for this tablet was born after seeing a video shot in Bogotá where a person describes to a blind man a football match by moving his fingers on a cardboard representing the field. Intuitive, the tablet currently allows you to follow football, rugby, tennis and basketball matches but, eventually, it will be compatible with fifteen sports.
Developed with the support of Orange, Touch2See has been tested by visually impaired people during matches in various disciplines, such as the France-Scotland rugby test match in Saint-Étienne on 12 August. Arthur Chazelle and his two partners aim to market their tablet in March 2024 to equip stadiums and individuals. Toulouse are also working on a partnership with Paris 2024 for more inclusion at the Olympic Games.