Sensory Software Ltd

Sensory Software established in 1997 is a small company that designs, develops and then licences software for a range of people with disabilities.

The disability areas of interest are: Blind and Low Vision People; children and adults with profound and multiple disabilities; and people with quite severe multiple disabilities.

Common themes in all of the software activities are to make the software simple and straightforward to use by ordinary people. Over the years it has developed: the Narrator screenreader for Microsoft, the first screenreader to come "in the box"; the Thunder screenreader, which is now free; and a wide range of educational software for very young children.

Most recently it has been focusing more on novel interaction systems for people with physical disabilities who have poor gross motor control but good control of a small range of movement. In addition, it occasionally undertakes consultancy work for other companies in the Assistive Technology arena.

Contribution to the AsTeRICS Project:

• Input into:
  • User requirements
  • Design and specification of hardware and software systems
  • Integration of systems
• Development of Windows-based onscreen keyboard and mouse control systems that utilise the novel hardware built in this project
• Exploration of existing (commercially available) hardware that may be of use for people with physical disabilities controlling a mouse or onscreen keyboard

Role in the AsTeRICS Project:

SENSORY will contribute to AsTeRICS mainly by the development of a Windows-based onscreen keyboard and mouse control systems that utilise the novel hardware built in AsTeRICS. Furthermore SENSORY explores existing (commercially available) hardware that may be of use for people with physical disabilities controlling a mouse or onscreen keyboard and that may be integrated into AsTeRICS.