Timbrasom

In the world, according to the WHO, there are more than 500 million deaf people, and Brazil alone represents 2% of this figure. Furthermore, the UN states the possibility that by 2050 25% of the world population will have some degree of deafness due to the improper use of the headset because of Home Office work. The deaf community in Brazil is divided into 3 main fronts: those who know libras and Portuguese, those who only know libras, and those who know nothing. Timbrasom can be used by these 3 audiences because, in interviews with a deaf child who knew nothing, she was able to use the website version of Timbra without difficulty. Decades ago, it was forbidden to practice Libras until the insertion of Law 10.098/2000, which implements professional training in Libras, and 10.436/2002, which makes official Brazilian Sign Language a legal means of communication. The elderly, who today represent 57% of deaf people in Brazil, represent the largest portion of those who do not know libras, followed by children, whose parents did not recognize the condition of deafness. 

An estimate from the experience of Ricardo Teruaki Fujikawa, who was deaf from birth, was that approximately one-fourth of the people he met knew sign language and Portuguese proficiently, while the vast majority knew only sign language. According to the National Health Survey (PNS) in Brazil, among those who have some hearing difficulty, only 1.8% know how to use Libras, and among those with moderate hearing impairment, only 3% know how to use Libras. Even in Surveys, the results indicate a huge educational gap, and without proper education, one doesn't develop a proper sense of autonomy, empathy, and logical thinking. 

This community does not approve of the use of the word hearing impaired to refer to them, because for them no disease needs to be treated. The outlook for this sector according to the WHO is that it will reach 1 billion people by 2050. However, the salary prospects for this population are up to 2 minimum wages, due to the types of jobs they are assigned. This indicates that this niche market has low purchasing power. 

The deaf community tends to cluster only among those who live in the same situation because not communicating with speakers brings a feeling of exclusion. Zygmunt Bauman exemplifies the need to build solid relationships in life in society, and one of the pillars for this is active communication, the feeling of being present, being heard, and having a voice. Once this communication is easily broken, which happens regularly in public places, people tend to leave in search of alternatives to develop solid relationships. 

Timbrasom's mission is to universalize accessibility to sound for deaf people and build a strong community of protagonists. The problem is not just about accessibility, it's about mentality.

Timbrasom is an Android application currently available in the Play Store. It translates sound into vibrations in two different modes. The Microphone button translates the environmental sound depending on the loudness of the sound. There are two modes when clicking this button: the "musical instrument" and the "live show". 

The first button has a higher sensibility; it's for places that don't have much noise. Its main uses are to teach deaf people how to play musical instruments, dance with vibration, translate sound from small environments such as bars, and even be used as a noise identification (car horn). The higher sensibility enables a better and safer everyday life experience, knowing when to stop due to a loud sound helps them to stay aware walking down the streets.

The "live show" has a lower sensibility. It's for musical shows, concerts, sports games, and environments with high decibels. I tested this mode on the Violin Concert in the Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City, every time the rhythm of the music changed, the cellphone vibrated differently. This mode works better with lower-pitch sounds with high volume (several people playing). The mode couldn't translate accurately a solo violin with a higher-pitch sound.

"Timbrar" is the last button. It records the internal sound of the cellphone, which enables the app to work in the background translating other apps such as Deezer, Youtube, Google Chrome, Disney+, and even League of Legends Wild Rift. This translation enhances their life quality by providing accessibility to any app that has sound embedded in it.

You can download the MVP at this link: https://play.google.com/store/...

I'm working directly with the Deaf Associations in Ribeirão Preto, São Carlos, and Salt Lake City (Utah). I have a partnership with the Deaf's Festival (https://www.instagram.com/p/C5OrYmXJM-t/) and Utah Symphony. 

The associations in São Carlos and Ribeirão Preto had trouble getting new members and creating events, the musical events Timbrasom is capable of building are helping them grow their impact on the city. 

Deaf's Festival is a musical festival made by and for the deaf community, Timbrasom is a cheaper option compared to vibrational vests, so they can scale their show and receive more people at a lower cost.

Utah Symphony has deaf patrons who were asking for an accessibility solution, Timbrasom came as the best solution for them, we even tested it on Dvorak's Violin Concert and received good feedback about it.

Ricardo Fujikawa Teruaki is our advisor and he's born deaf. He was the one who connected us to the deaf communities in the state of São Paulo. When we were testing the prototype, we could enhance the app correctly due to having 20 deaf testers from Ricardo's Network. On April 27th, 2024, the Deaf's Festival will happen in São Paulo, more than 2000 deaf people will be there and Ricardo will be there helping the team to communicate with the community and show Timbrasom as the best way to feel the music in the show.

I'm still learning Sign Language to communicate better with the community, but I found ways to use AI to translate my voice into sign language, therefore even not fully proficient in sign language I can communicate with them and understand most of their needs. I went to Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. to build a partnership between the university and our team, they loved our solution and they are working with me right now in building music classes for their students. I didn't know ASL, but I was able to use my knowledge in AI to find the right tools to communicate with them.

We currently have 88 downloads on the Play Store and 33 daily users so far. Each daily user pays a subscription of 2.99 dollars per month. We tested with 147 people, but some of them had iPhones, that's why we couldn't convert them into users. They are on our mailing list waiting for the app to launch.

What Timbrasom needs is not money, technical, or legal help. Timbrasom needs more clients and visibility. We have a conversion rate of 36%, therefore the more people that know about our impact, the faster we grow. Becoming a solver is an opportunity to be connected to a global network of entrepreneurs. Having partners that can refer Timbrasom to their communities will help us more than any money. I'm applying because I want to be connected in this network, to help, and to be helped by exceptionally good people. Although bringing prosperity to the deaf community does not entirely match the challenge, entertainment is a major factor needed for economies to prosper: happy people are more active, buy more and produce more.

The application will be an instrument to generate achievements for these people so they can perform activities, such as playing an instrument, that they could not before.  For children and teenagers, like the test child, the fun becomes dance and music, we propose to create competitions of dances that are rhythmic with the vibe and to foster the creation of content mainly on TikTok. There will also be competitions on creative uses and strategies on how to use the application in various conditions, the reason for this is simple, one of the factors that made YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram become giants is the creation of content from its users and leave this exposed on the platform will generate more opportunities for Timbrasom to impact niches.

The teaching of the Portuguese language to the deaf is usually done after the learning of libras, which can be considered a delay in the development of children since the accessibility to the deaf community is not universalized. The teaching of a language is done through the voice, and since this is the friction, Timbrasom comes in translating speech into vibrations, which stimulates the children's brain by creating analogies with the sensations coming from the cell phone. We tested the application with children who have cochlear implants in the Schools for the Blind and Deaf in Salt Lake City, Utah. The teachers said that the children loved the application while they were in the Music Therapy Class, they were able to pay more attention to the class. It was a good stimulus for them because they didn't have much access to sound before and feeling it helped them to enjoy the class the most.

The long-term was defined based on bets on what the trends will be in the future. Metaverse demonstrated a gain in visibility after Facebook changed its name, so much so that the negative criticism of this company's vision was similar to when the iPhone was introduced. Every innovation that has the potential to create a new market needs to develop a cultural transformation in the society around it. 

The deaf community also has a habit of inferiorizing themselves, with many believing that their achievements are limited by their condition. Throughout history, the evolution of society occurred through the rise of new tools, the first was fire, and now, Timbrasom. The application will change their mentality. Those who are already using Timbrasom daily (33 out of the 88 downloads) said that Timbrasom is a must in their lives. A portable translator to sounds that helps them enjoy good moments whenever they are and that helps them know when a huge bad sound happens.

There is a great diversity of groups within the deaf community, for example, people classified as hearing impaired does not necessarily mean that all cannot hear, the hearing ability depends on each one, that is, one can hear with the aid of the hearing aid, another cannot hear even with the aid. Thus, those who can hear with the aid of the device, in the beginning, may resist due to their habits and the lack of confidence in Timbrasom, representing risks to the entry and development of the company. 

Another analysis of Brazil's situation is through the news, practically from every newspaper, that shows the record percentage of unemployed people because of the, mainly pandemic, which leads companies to close down or lay off their employees. Most of them are disabled. But not enough of this, the country's economy is not in better condition because of high inflation, which means that the reality for the disabled is even worse, that is, even if they are employed, but may not be able to afford or invest in Timbrasom because of the salary, which is equal or lower than the minimum wage (R$ 1,212.00), since most of them work in less promising areas such as cleaners, garbage collectors, assemblers on the production line, etc. 

We will start by looking for influencers who are willing to partner with us and planning all the content of the month according to the political and socioeconomic situation of the date we plan to launch, aiming to generate greater identification with our audience. After that, we will hold a meeting with our influencers where we will align the ideas, expectations, wishes, doubts, and more, giving them a 7-day trial of the paid version of the application so that they can align the expectations of the public and advertise even better having total confidence in our product. After the previous steps have been completed, come the launch date, we will send a customized sales script to each of our influencers, giving them total freedom to add information they find relevant to their audience. The need to be personalized is that our launch strategy focuses on a great reach and very high conversion, i.e., our influencers will not just make a feed post and a sequence of stories, we want to stop the internet, and for this, it is necessary to position ourselves in all possible communication channels, i.e.: Facebook, Instagram (stories, reels, feed), Twitter, YouTube (shorts and regular videos), Twitch (lives) and Google (through SEO strategies). 

Changing their mentality and showing them that they can achieve new heights using Timbrasom will help them trust in our word. The influencers help in giving new opinions and visions to people and Timbrasom shows that they can envision a greater future by showing that technology, entertainment, and accessibility can be merged into box of possibilities in their own pocket.

Timbrasom's main goal is to be the biggest and best accessibility system in the world. Among the goals, are in two years to conquer 100 thousand subscribers. Participate in 10 entrepreneurial competitions in 1 year and reach 1000 fans in the first semester of launching. Go to more than 10 schools and associations for the deaf to give talks and present the app every year.  

Timbrasom is the application that rhythmically translates sounds into vibrations of the cell phone itself, with a 0.25-second delay. The measurement of the delay was done using the Trap Beat song and a stopwatch, this tune is rhythmic, so when the rhythm starts, so does the translation. One-quarter of a second was the time required to translate the first beat of the song. The app is also capable of translating other types of sound, meaning the user can open and use it with other apps like Youtube, Disney+, and even League of Legends Wild Rift. Even with the volume turned off, the vibration continues until it is turned off, this brings a universality to the use of the app. 

The first prototype used Librosa to create the API that translates music into vibrations, it showed the moment the cellphone had to vibrate when a beat was detected. We had to adapt the Python API because it only worked with recorded pieces of music. We used other packages from Javascript and a Google API that gets the internal sound of the cellphone to develop the on-live translation. 

As I told you before, we currently have 88 downloads on the Play Store and 33 daily users so far. The technology is available for anyone with an Android 10 or superior to download. We have mapped all the phones that currently work with the solution, this data came from Google Play Store (Analytics): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1j_PUCKrQExT9lUCjYGNCRDpPXU2riynh/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=102796406001058381614&rtpof=true&sd=true 

As well as an IREX publication about me (Rafael Zinni): https://www.irex.org/people/rafael-zinni-lopes

 We have publicities in Portuguese:

https://www.radio.unesp.br/noticia/7095

EPTV – Inovator's Succes Case

https://globoplay.globo.com/v/9775194

Rádio CBN

https://www.cbnribeirao.com.br/noticias/SOM,0,0,85692,Grupo-de-jovens-desenvolve-aplicativo-que-faz-os-surdos-sentirem-o-som-do-celular.aspx

Agência Brasil

https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/geral/noticia/2021-08/alunos-criam-aplicativo-para-melhorar-experiencia-sensorial-de-surdos

CPS

https://lnkd.in/d6-z9ZR

CEO: Rafael Zinni Lopes

CTO: Victor Dias de Oliveira

Advisor: Ricardo Teruaki Fujikawa

We have been working on this solution since February 2021. It started with me and Victor, but after 3 months, Ricardo came to the team as an Advisor.

Victor Dias de Oliveira (He/him - Sees himself as part of the Black community)

Programmer with 5 years of experience with the following languages/technologies: Java, Kotlin, JavaScript, Dart, Python, Flutter, React Native, and ReactJS. Today, thanks to Timbrasom, he dives deep into the worlds of Digital Marketing, User Experience, Customer Success, Customer Experience, Growth Hacking, and Innovation. Extremely focused professional, whose specialty is to adapt easily and quickly to any kind of change, besides being extremely curious, and flexible in terms of technology and learning. 

Education: Completed high school.

Skills: Organization, ultra-learner, easy to network, hard-working, and is the pillar that brings the team together.

Positions: ReactJS programmer, Kotlin, JavaScript/NodeJS, NextJS, CTO.

Rafael Zinni Lopes (He/him - Sees himself as a White Caucasian)

Machine Learning programmer in Python since 2019. Worked with social business through Enactus FZEA-USP for one year. He was part of the Young Leaders of America Initiative, he achieved partnerships for Timbrasom in Salt Lake, Houston, and Washington D.C. He has participated in 10 Hackathons achieving first and third place in two. He has lectured at Emeritus, Wadhwani Foundation, and Centro Paula Souza on entrepreneurship, launch strategies, and value proposition. 

Education: Bachelor's degree in Food Engineering from the University of São Paulo and Master's degree in Engineering and Material Science from the same university. PhD candidate in Computer Science and Artificial Inteligence.

Competencies: Strategic leadership, assertive and quick decision making, creativity, storyteller, and presenter, besides being a pillar that brings confidence to the team.

Positions: Product Manager, Manager, CEO. 

Ricardo Teruaki Fujikawa (He/him - Asian - Deaf person)

He has 1 year of experience in social projects, where I searched for solutions to possible problems to increase profits and avoid losses. He works as an Engineer at General Motors. He is deaf from birth and helps manage contacts around the city of São Paulo. He is the one who tests the application whenever there are new features or updates, gives feedback, and brings the app to the deaf community.

Education: Higher Education in Engineering and Automation Control.

Skills: Ease of learning and working with software, ability to quickly manage and execute various activities in a short time, and knowledge of how to take advantage of the various tools for the deaf. He is the communication pillar of the team with the community.

Position: Advisor. 

Our business model is mainly a social subscription plus a freemium application. The application has Ads to use the Microphone and "Timbrar" functions, the latter can only be used 1 time per day after watching an Ad. To disable the ads, they have to pay 2.99 dollars per month. The social subscription provides a more customized approach, they can ask for mentorship or help not only using the application but with nowadays problems. For instance, if they want to learn how to play a musical instrument using Timbrasom, they pay the subscription and ask for private lessons. The value of the subscription depends on their demands. It could range from 5 dollars to 25 dollars: 5 dollars for simple tasks and 25 for classes.

They need the app because there are only a few products that focus on giving a better experience for music, games, and films. These products range from 100 to 500 dollars and they are not specifically made for the deaf community (Bone Conduction Earphones or Woojer Vibrational Vests). Timbrasom is provided via Google Play Store, which is easier and cheaper compared to products that they have to buy and constantly use, but that are not versatile for everyday use.

Everyone needs entertainment for good mental health, Timbrasom proposes a better enjoyment for those who haven't it.

We have 33 subscribers since the app was launched 3 months ago out of the 88 downloads. This will grow when more people know about the app. Therefore, Timbrasom's short-term strategy is to increase visibility by closing partnerships with entities interested in bringing the deaf community closer to their products or services. For example, we have a partnership with Utah Symphony (Salt Lake City) in which they sell their musical concerts as 100% accessible for deaf customers while referring Timbrasom to them as the main and only way to enjoy their concerts. In Brazil, Timbrasom has two partnerships: a musical festival for deaf people (Deaf's Festival) and a non-profit organization (Instituto Seci). The partnership model is the same as the one with Utah Symphony, referral-based. 

What Timbrasom needs to be financially stable is more clients, our break-even is around 4 thousand subscribers.