Situation: Globally, 70M people are on the autism spectrum (ASD). They suffer panic attacks or anxiety crises due to hyperacusis, a hearing sensitivity to specific noises, such as barks, sirens or construction works.

Brief: Actual noise cancellation technology blocks all noises for people with autism. But this also isolates them. Samsung needed a smart and universal solution to suppress the noises without limiting the lives of over 450K ASD Spaniards.

Objective: Use an existing Samsung technology: Galaxy Buds2 Pro earphones. Through this wearable device we create an A.I. app that suppresses certain noises and improves the quality of life of people with ASD. With Unfear, we transform actual Samsung devices into an effective and free tool that gives a new audio experience and interaction with the world to the autistic community.

Spain is one of the most sociable countries in the world and also one of the noisiest, so it is natural that a tool that allows those affected to interact with the environment and people has been very well received. Unfear goes beyond noise cancellation, creating a great solution for a normally forgotten audience, the autistic community.

This new app, which provides greater emotional well-being and a better quality of life for people with ASD and acoustic sensitivity, was launched at the end of March 2023, in order to get some traction during World Autism Awareness Day on April 2. Launching it on this date helped us to highlight their needs in front of everyone.

Unfear is a smart noise cancellation app that protects people with ASD and hearing disorders. Using advanced AI, it recognizes and suppresses stressful noises in real time by continuously listening and pinpointing each sound before cross-referencing thousands of audios through its 5 functions:

OUTSIDE SOUND MODE automatically cancels ambient noises selected by the user through an educated algorithm with more than 2M sounds.

MOBILE CONTENT MODE equalizes the sound coming from the phone, to offer an adapted audio. It has 4 programs: Movies, Video games, Social networks and Music.

FOCUS MODE mutes ambient sound except for conversations. Only the user's voice reopens the microphones and interrupts the mode.

CALM MODE automatically plays a relaxing audio when the user is upset. This allows the user to calm down and return to normal.

SOS BUTTON automatically calls the emergency contact to follow up the crisis in real time.

Unfear was built during 9 months by a multidisciplinary team of developers, engineers, doctors, therapists and the 10 most important ASD associations in Spain. During its research, production and testing, all of them provided feedback to improve the tool.

At the end of March, before launching the app on April 2, International Autism Awareness Day, we also obtained the scientific endorsement of the Spanish Society of Psychiatry and Mental Health.

100% of the app was designed hand in hand with people with ASD to make it accessible through pictograms and help all users understand its functions.

Unfear also has a mini-tutorial in the download platforms: Google Play and Galaxy Store, where we explain how easy, intuitive and functional the app is.

In the following months, Unfear is going to be translated to other languages in order to be used in other countries around the globe.