YSE Series: AmbiSense, The Start of a Social Entrepreneurship Journey
In the last few decades, there has been a massive improvement in hearing assistive technology, from hearing aids, cochlear implants to smartphone apps, etc. Nonetheless, there is still a need to improve those solutions to simplify user experience and reduce the potential risk for the deaf community while commuting daily.
We met with Jing Ru Woh, co-founder of AmbiSense, a software alert solution aiming to detect and translate auditory safety cues in the environment into visual and vibrational feedback for the deaf community. To build an inclusive society that leaves no one behind, AmbiSense aims to ease the struggles of the deaf community and that of a growing elderly population who can’t accurately rely on their sense of hearing. Team AmbiSense was selected as runner-up and Youth Co:Lab Champion of the Youth Action Challenge season 1. To learn more about the programme click here.
Jin Ruh shared her experience starting a social business, as well as key pieces of advice for young exploring this path.
1. Tell us about your social enterprise, what is AmbiSense working on?
Woh: AmbiSense comes from ambiance sensing, which aims to analyse sound data and provide contextual understandings of the sounds. We are currently building a smartphone App to provide key safety alerts for those with hearing difficulties –users will be alerted with haptic feedback and a display that shows what sound it is and where it is coming from. By doing so, we hope to provide better accessibility to safety alerts for those with hearing difficulties.
2. What inspired you to support the deaf community in Singapore?
Woh: Personally, I have been an active volunteer with disability groups like the deaf groups and intellectual disabilities groups for a while now. I picked up sign language classes and learned more about the deaf community by working with SADeaf, where I found a group of friends that was equally interested in this idea. We created a problem statement in conjunction with that organisation and engaged with them to do problem exploration.
3. What are the future plans for AmbiSense?
Woh: We hope to implement the sound detection solution on a wearable device like a smartwatch as it is a very portable way for individuals to use the device and receive real-time feedback. Also, we are aiming to go beyond the deaf community to the elderly population in Singapore–hearing loss is very common as we age.
4. What advice would you provide to budding social entrepreneurs in Singapore?
Woh: I would advise them to dare to try — as long as you have an idea, just reach out to people for help. There are many resources out there and many people that can help you along the way. Consider having a mentor to guide you through the ideation phase. It also helps to shape your solution with technical, practical, and scalable insights.
5. How did the Youth Action Challenge help you to make your idea a real business?
Woh: The Youth Action Challenge had a series of workshops that helped us with problem identification, marketing, and business model crafting, all of which guided us along at different stages. The workshops were very helpful as they were quite well-structured. The YAC also had a wide network that could connect us to people in the business and technology-related fields. We managed to meet several consultants, who have been very helpful to our team as they provide guidance on how we can implement a real-time model and deploy the product. The funding was also a huge support to scale up our idea as we managed to win the challenge last year.
This blog is part of our Singapore Youth Social Entrepreneurship (YSE) Series. Stay tuned as in our next few blogs, we will continue to showcase the Youth Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Singapore, as well as address some of the main challenges and opportunities for the youth willing to take this journey or already on it.
About Youth Co:Lab
Co-created in 2017 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Citi Foundation, Youth Co:Lab aims to establish a common agenda for countries in the Asia-Pacific region to empower and invest in youth, so that they can accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through leadership, social innovation and entrepreneurship. To learn more about the Youth Co: Lab, visit: https://www.youthcolab.org/
