Accessible Tech that’s Breaking Down Barriers
EHF Fellows Jarek Beksa and Sara (Pei-Hsuan) Chin are transforming accessibility technology through their groundbreaking startup, Sonnar. Based in Aotearoa New Zealand, Sonnar is at the cutting edge of making gaming and information accessible to individuals with vision impairments and reading disabilities. Founded by Jarek and co-led with Sara, the company utilises innovative audio and voice technology to break down barriers and enhance the user experience for those with disabilities.
Different Paths, Similar Motivation
In his home of Poland, Jarek studied physics and biomedical engineering, but eventually explored the intersection of video games and telecom services. In 2014, he moved to Aotearoa NZ and began his PhD at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), where his interest in accessibility technology deepened. Motivated by a friend with vision impairment, Jarek focused his research on developing interfaces for visually impaired gamers, laying the groundwork for his entrepreneurial journey and the establishment of Sonnar. As CEO, Jarek has propelled Sonnar to global recognition through his dedication to inclusive technologies.
Sara, who was born in Taiwan and moved to Aotearoa NZ at the age of seven, has a deeply ingrained commitment to social impact. Her career in charity and impact-related work is driven by her motivation to uplift under-served communities. She met Jarek through their work with Blind Low Vision NZ, where she was an employee at the time that he was developing a solution for accessible book delivery. Believing in the potential of his project, Sara soon joined Sonnar.
As the COO at Sonnar, Sara complements Jarek's technical expertise with her background in philanthropy and non-profit sectors. Her skills in revenue acquisition, grant making, and operations management have been pivotal in executing Sonnar's mission to enhance technology accessibility for individuals with disabilities.
Starting, Scaling and Support
Sonnar emerged from Jarek’s PhD research, initially established as a gaming startup. The company's mission quickly expanded when Blind Low Vision NZ approached Jarek to develop a platform for distributing books, magazines, and newspapers, via voice technology such as smart speakers and Alexa, to people who are blind or have vision loss. Drawing on his expertise in voice interfaces, he successfully devised a prototype and launched the well-received service for Blind Low Vision NZ. This pivotal project highlighted a larger demand for accessible information technology beyond gaming, starting Sonnar's evolution into a multifaceted tech accessibility company.
This transition and expansion was also when Jarek found support and expertise from within the Edmund Hillary Fellowship. Immersed in a community of like-minded individuals with a shared commitment to social impact, Jarek highlights the pivotal roles played by Fellows during the startup's formative stages. Fellows have shared their expertise and experience, such as Arash Tayebi from Kara Technologies, Steven Moe offered operational expertise in the process of establishing Sonnar as a non-profit, and Fellow Niraj Mehta's early investment helped Jarek to further scale the startup.
Expressing his gratitude for Aotearoa NZ as Sonnar's basecamp, Jarek cites the supportive ecosystem, and regulatory environment as factors that have contributed to the company's growth and success.
“I’ve lived in and started businesses in Europe, and from my experience, starting a business in NZ is the easiest. New Zealand has a friendly environment to run a business; it has stable taxes, a stable economy, and more importantly, it is a great place to live.”
Innovative Technology
One of Sonnar's flagship products is the Audio Game Hub, launched in 2016. This innovative app allows blind individuals to play video games on portable devices such as smartphones and tablets, opening up a new world of entertainment for the visually impaired. The Audio Game Hub has received multiple awards and worldwide downloads in the hundreds of thousands, including recognition in the 2018 Google Play Awards Nomination for Best Accessibility Experience, underscoring its significant impact on the community.
Another groundbreaking product is the Sonnar Library, a global audiobook streaming platform for organisations serving people with reading disabilities. This platform enables users to access a vast array of reading material through simple voice commands, significantly improving their ability to enjoy literature and information independently.
Sonnar’s technology, which includes voice-activated and audio-based interfaces, continues to evolve, ensuring that their products remain inclusive and user-centred. With rapid advancements in AI, Sonnar aims to enhance the user experience. Sara explains:
“We are looking to use AI to develop personalised recommendation profiles for users - what you’d expect from Netflix and the like - where the user receives suggested books based on the algorithm. While that doesn’t sound groundbreaking to sighted people, it will make a huge difference to blind or low vision users. Many users with vision loss are not confident with technology, and their conditions make digital products difficult to navigate. So they are still reliant on books being picked for them. This service will give control back to them, offering a level of autonomy they’ve never had before.”
Jarek adds:
“Advancements in technology now allow us to convert books or news articles in minutes and at the fraction of the cost when comparing to a few years ago, making real-time information accessible to a community that previously lacked it.”
Meaningful Impact
While metrics like downloads in different countries and millions of interactions annually offer insight into the platform's reach, it's the personal feedback that truly demonstrates how Jarek and Sara are meaningfully impacting people’s lives.
Jarek explains:
“We received an email from a blind user to let us know that thanks to our games, and the design of them, he was able to enjoy the same game on the same device with his sighted kids. He had never been able to have that experience before. That is very encouraging to us, that someone had a great time with family members despite their disability. That’s what really motivates us.”
Ukraine and Beyond
Sonnar's impact stretches beyond Aotearoa NZ, where their expertise in accessibility technology has been transformative worldwide, and includes collaborations with blind organisations in the UK, US, Australia and Ukraine. In 2022, the Ukrainian Library for the Blind approached Sonnar with a pressing issue: the loss of access to an accessible library in Moscow due to the conflict. To address this challenge, Sonnar developed a mobile application. Launched last year, the app offers access to thousands of books, bridging a critical gap in accessible literature for the visually impaired community in Ukraine.
“What we’ve heard from our colleagues in Ukraine, this is the first time that the country has ever had a digital library for people who are blind. They’ve never had anything like it.”
Future Direction
Looking ahead, Sonnar is focused on global expansion, aiming to establish a comprehensive, accessible digital library that facilitates resource-sharing among foundations worldwide and significantly augments the availability of audiobooks for visually impaired individuals. Jarek envisions this initiative as the realisation of a ‘global entertainment hub’, accessible in multiple languages and across various devices, including watches, phones, and computers.
“Our long-term goal is to create a global entertainment hub, where people with reading disabilities can enjoy accessible games, books, magazines and newspapers.
Sara adds:
"Wherever you are, whatever language you speak, whatever you want to read, you come to Sonnar and you get it."
In the space of eight years, Jarek and Sara have taken Sonnar from startup to a venture that is transforming the landscape of accessibility technology. Through innovation and sheer determination, they are improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people with vision impairments and reading disabilities by enabling access to information and entertainment. The Sonnar story is an example of how life-changing technology has emerged from Aotearoa as a basecamp for global impact.
