CSUN 2025: A DeafBlind Take on Progress, Priorities, and the Road Ahead

Introduction

The 40th annual CSUN conference has officially concluded. While even those attending with sight didn’t see much of the sun that week, the atmosphere was filled with positive energy, engaging presentations, innovative technology, and major updates to existing tools.

CSUN conferences are known for their high level of enthusiasm, but awareness of the DeafBlind community and its unique needs continues to lag behind, in my opinion. I spent most of Wednesday through Friday of that week in the areas for exhibitors. A total of 120 vendors were listed in the directory, and I have included a small gathering of things I encountered which stood out most to me as a DeafBlind individual and as a professional working with many others in the DeafBlind population. It would clearly take a book to write and cover all vendors, so to limit my scope to an article I chose 5. Before diving into the list, it’s important to note that the inclusion of these vendors is not an official endorsement—neither by myself nor by Helen Keller Services. Many of the products featured have not yet launched commercially, and I had only limited time with each device, so these descriptions may not be fully comprehensive. Links to products are included should you wish to keep up with any of these products yourself.

The Codex from Newhaptics

One of the devices of interest I encountered this year is from a Michigan-based company called NewHaptics. Though they were at CSUN 2024, the older version of the device I felt was 3 lines of braille with 24 cells in each line. Fast forward to this year, and they are in the process of developing a 4-line braille display consisting of 32 cells on each line. Their focus is on text output for now, not tactile graphics. The braille dots are driven by air from an attached compressor. The company indicated that this technology makes braille more cost-effective without sacrificing the braille feel and performance users have come to expect. The Codex sports a USB-C port for connectivity, a USB-A port for file transfers, along with an SD card reader. The Codex can connect to Wi-Fi (802.11 ac/a/b/g/n) and has Bluetooth 5.1 BLE. The device also features an integrated touchpad for gesture recognition. This allows users, for example, to simply double tap on the cell they wish to activate, and the cursor will move to that cell. This means the Codex does not need the conventional cursor routing buttons found on single-line displays. The touchpad also works well for opening apps, folders, files, selecting links on a web page, and more. Again, no need to lift your hands off the display, even to hit a cursor routing button.

One of the challenges for multi-line devices such as this is that screen readers currently do not fully support them. NewHaptics indicated that they will have support for JAWS upon launch, but that the process of screen reader integration is a work in progress. Speaking of progress, 2025 finds them almost ready to release the Codex. The cells feel sharper to me this year and the refresh rate has improved as well. The consistency of the gesture for double tapping to re-route the cursor was not very reliable last year, but it worked each time I tried it this time around.

The final product, according to the NewHaptics website, will measure 13.75″ x 7.5″ x 1.38″ (34.93 x 19.05 x 3.5 cm) and weigh 4.4 lbs or 2 kg. The specifications for the compressor are still not available, though this is certainly a device intended for stationary use. I found that reading a couple of paragraphs was very comfortable and that reading documents on the internal processor was able to keep up well with my reading speed. There are currently internal applications for file management, reading documents, and playing Wordle. It also has panning buttons and a Perkins-style keyboard with 2 spaces. The device is expected to ship in May 2025 and cost $9,999.

OneCourt

As my hearing continues to decline, following my favorite sports events on the radio has become more difficult. Though I can use apps like Sports Alerts on my iPhone to track the text of what is going on, there is no way to track it in real time. OneCourt promises to change that with their haptic technology. This device uses haptic (vibration-based) feedback to mirror the action on the field or court. It is about the size of a tablet but thicker, and it includes interchangeable overlays for different sports. The demo device at CSUN was quite thick, though I was informed that the devices currently at NBA stadiums are only a couple of inches thick.

For example, the football overlay includes the outline of the field or court, yard lines for football, and the basketball version includes key points on the court. Different vibration patterns represent different types of action, giving real-time feedback through touch. If you want, there are also audio cues which can be used to support the learning of the vibration patterns, or they can be used during live gameplay to help support the haptic feedback.

I was able to connect my Roger On microphone to the device with a 3.5mm headphone jack located on the side but struggled to understand the speech due to my own hearing loss. As a person fully dependent on braille, I could see myself using one hand to track the action with OneCourt, while the other hand reads the text being sent to my braille display paired to my iPhone with Sports Alerts. To learn the vibration patterns, there is a tutorial in audio form on the OneCourt, but for those DeafBlind users entirely dependent on touch, there is currently no braille support for the device. Further, there would be no way to check the scores of other games. There are also plans to introduce a home version of OneCourt. Though there is no talk of an app, this could be a good way for DeafBlind users to set their OneCourt devices to the game they wish without requiring direct braille display support. As I noticed, it was possible to follow the game action with only the vibration patterns, but details such as the score and who did what were not readily available without the ability to hear. As a DeafBlind sports fan who is so close to having better access than I have ever had, I am very hopeful some way to interact with the home device will be possible without the need to hear. The home device is expected next year, and the price given was “around the price of a smartphone.” Either way, I’m excited about this possibility and hope full access will be extended to those without hearing.

Dream Vision Shows Off a Dream Display

Help Tech, formerly known as Handi Tech, is a German company that has manufactured braille displays for more than 30 years. Their reseller in the United States is the Dream Vision Group. One of their unique selling points has always been Active Tactile Control, which allows the user to continue reading without having to press a button to advance the display. They have continued to evolve, with their latest available offering being the Activator Pro line-up. Though this is not a new device, it has continued to evolve since its release. The Activator Pro comes in 64 and 80-cell variants. It also has the aforementioned Active Tactile Control, and I was impressed with this as a braille workstation.

One of the most interesting features is ActiveSplit. This feature allows you to view two connected devices at once. From my perspective, this is a huge leap forward. Since I can, for example, have half of the display showing me the contents of my PC and the other half my iPhone. As someone struggling to hear speech, this means that in a Zoom meeting I can have the same display actively connected to both the device receiving my captions and the Zoom meeting itself. Currently, if I wish to participate in a Zoom meeting, I have to change Bluetooth channels on my braille display to the Zoom window and then raise my hand, and shift back to the other device to read the captions. I once again have to shift back to the Zoom window to unmute my audio, say whatever I am going to say, then mute and lower my hand before switching back to captioning. Since both screens exist on the same device and are working in real-time, this could dramatically increase a braille user’s productivity on Zoom meetings.

While Zoom has its own version of captions, it is still quite difficult to read and navigate around them with a braille display. The user is not limited to an even split of their cells; it is also possible to configure the division as the user wishes. Finally, if the Bluetooth connection is of concern, the Activator Pros have a USB-C port on each side, so the user can choose a hardware connection if desired. In addition to the QWERTY keyboard, the Activator Pro models have other keys designated as F13 through F24. These keys can be used for other functions chosen by the user.

It is also possible to drag and drop text from one connected device to the other through a feature called BrailleShot. What this allows, as an example, is for the user to take information out of a chat window on their iPhone and paste it onto their PC. The 64-cell option sells for $10,500, while the 80-cell model costs $12,700.

There have also been updates to the Activator 40, a braille display with both a QWERTY and Perkins-style keyboard. ActiveSplit is also available on that device with a firmware upgrade. Users will be able to update their Activators through the iOS app as well as through the PC once this update is installed. Speaking of connecting, the new SmartDock for iOS devices is now shipping with a USB-C port. If users who purchased the original SmartDock wish to upgrade from Lightning to USB-C, there is a $200 charge.

EchoVision from Agiga

Smart glasses are not new by any means. There are several products on the market which are wearables that can help describe what is in one’s environment. While many people have apps on their smartphones, the fact is that many feel there is not a solution which is hands-free for blind users, or one-hand-free for DeafBlind users. While AI-based scene descriptions are nothing new for those who have vision loss, devices that specialize in working with those who have vision loss have been quite expensive. Agiga plans to offer a pair of smart glasses that not only look like standard sunglasses but which are smarter than those of its predecessors. For example, the Meta smart glasses will summarize a menu based on the picture, whereas EchoVision will have the ability to read the entire document, without having to ask the glasses in several different ways to do so. As someone with limited use of the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses who argues with them for this task, that would be a very welcome change.  These glasses will also offer the option of calling a visual interpreter/volunteer like the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses through Be My Eyes and Airia. I make this comparison between EchoVision and the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses as the Ray-Ban smart glasses, priced starting at $349, are the closest price point to what EchoVision will charge.

I was able to have a demo of the EchoVision glasses and found the features I checked out to be very useful. The EchoVision glasses also can provide detailed descriptions of people. Another feature was continuous scene description. This allows the user to walk down the sidewalk and receive descriptions of objects and people nearby, as well as the general environment. For example, it would tell the user that there is grass off to their left, that someone is several feet away at their 2 o’clock position, and so forth. Unlike the Celeste glasses, which are no longer being developed and which frequently crashed, this was not my experience with EchoVision. The glasses were stable for the entire demonstration. It was neat to “look around” and understand things in my surroundings. My home is in a suburban location and there is a lot of activity in the summertime with birds, squirrels, the occasional fox, the obligatory barking dog, and many other happenings. I would really enjoy using the continuous scene description to find out what is going on in my yard.

As a mostly braille user, it would be fantastic to be able to sit outside on a warm afternoon and read in braille what activities are happening at my house. EchoVision would be the first to implement this in some way if they choose to do so.

Though there is not currently access to braille support, the CEO and I discussed this at some length, and I was told that they would look into adding this after the initial launch. I was able to follow the audio with the speakers being positioned just right of my hearing aids. The version of the glasses I used did not have Bluetooth support, but I was told that it is compatible with some brands of hearing aids along with Bluetooth speakers.

Agiga is taking pre-orders for their product now for $449, though the product will cost $599 once pre-orders end. As of now, they are offering a free lifetime subscription to those who pre-order, and the first year is expected to be free for new users. Meta’s offering does not require a subscription.

Ending on a warm note with Clix Therapy

Living in the north for most people is not fun during the winter. For braille users in particular, this can inhibit our ability to read since cold hands are a bit like blurry eyes. Clix Therapy offers a range of reusable heat packs designed for various body parts, providing targeted relief through an electricity-free heating mechanism. These packs contain a solution of salt and water (sodium acetate). When the internal metal disc, also part of the heating pack, is flexed until it clicks, it triggers a chemical reaction that rapidly heats the pack to approximately 130°F (54°C).

The heat duration varies by product size and usage, typically lasting between 30 to 70 minutes. Once the soft chemicals harden in the pack, the heating will slowly fade. After that time, you boil the pack in water for a few minutes and let it cool. For those with vision, the crystals dissolve and the solution becomes clear. For those of us using our hands, I’ve found that boiling them in water for 10 minutes seems to be effective when working with two warmers.

Tip for DeafBlind users: to determine whether water is boiling, you can hold your hand on the pan’s handle to feel the vibration of the bubbling water. After they have boiled and then cooled, the heating packs are ready to use again.

For me, the hand warmers are good for when my hands get too cold to read braille. The only trick is to find the metal disc to squeeze to activate, though I found it easier to do once I had located the disc a few times. The 4-pack of Hand Warmers costs $49. It has been my experience, though limited at this time, that the Hand Warmers last between 30 to 45 minutes before cooling, depending on the environment you use them in. They have solutions for feet and other body parts as well.

Conclusion

Each year at CSUN, we get a glimpse into what the future of accessibility could look like. Whether it’s innovative braille displays, new audio products, or wearables that describe the world in real-time, the ingenuity on display is exciting. Though many products are still in development and not yet useable by everyone, the progress being made is encouraging. As someone deeply connected to the DeafBlind community, I leave this year’s conference with renewed hope that greater access and usability are not only possible—they’re already underway.