Interview with Audio Radar

Alex (Daily Moth): This is a cool technology called Audio Radar. Can you introduce yourselves?

Dom Bearwood: Hi! I’m Dom Bearwood. Call me Dom and this is my sign name.

Tim Murphy (via Convo Now interpreter): My name is Tim Murphy. I founded Airdrop Gaming and invented Audio Radar. I met Dom years ago when I developed the first prototype. He’s been with us ever since.

Alex: Cool!

Dom: I’m just a gamer. I work with Audio Radar (this is how you sign it). I’ve been his consultant, gamer, a tester, and I also do outreach to the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community to tell them about how Audio Radar can help them.

Alex: Cool. Can you explain what the Audio Radar technology does?

Dom: The technology is amazing for accessibility for deaf and hard-of-hearing. Look at this screen. You can see all the lights around it. The lights show where the sounds are coming from in the game. For example, this is Minecraft. You can see where the animals are. If you see fire, nature, water, or animals, the sounds will show up around the monitor with different colors. You can see the dragon here. There’s purple lights. It matches with where the sound is coming from. It’s a pretty cool concept.

Alex: So if the sounds are coming from the top, it’ll flash there?

Dom: Yes. Also, if there are sounds coming from the background, the bottom lights will show up. It applies to the sides as well.

Tim: This is an example with Minecraft. We talked with the game itself. Minecraft is telling us that there are “creepers” in a certain area. So the lights matches with the angles. Different colors represent different things.

Dom: It’s a game-changer! Game-changer for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community.

Alex: Dom, I’m curious about your experiences playing games before you had that technology and afterwards?

Dom: I’m a horrible player! I get very overwhelmed. You know, back then, when you played old-fashioned games such as N64, PlayStation, those older games were easy to play. No problems with audio. But with advanced and new technology, such as the new COD in Xbox One, PS5, it’s very overwhelming. You can’t tell where the sounds are coming from. And you never know how much noise you’re making in the game. That’s why I’m always getting killed or lose to hearing gamers. It’s because you’re making too much noises in the games. But with Audio Radar, you become aware and realize, “Wow, I’m making that noise.” So I can start backing up and improving my skills and become aware of how to slow down and change your game strategy. That will really improve your gaming skills, 100 percent. It’s absolutely a huge change and mind-blowing.

Alex: Can you show another demo?

Dom: This is the PUBG game. This is the first game we tested back then.

Tim: It can “hear” players behind you. You can see the flashing lights. It means something behind you.

Alex: How long did it take you to get used to the setup? It looks a bit overwhelming with all the lights.

Dom: That’s a good question. When I finally got my Audio Radar in person, after doing reviews and testing back then — I started playing with it full-time in person, I was overwhelmed. There was too much lights. It felt distracting. It took me one week or two weeks to get used to it and I started to understand my surroundings and my awareness of the lights. I started to understand how to play the game while watching the lights around the screen. It takes time but it’s easy to learn it quickly.

Alex: How much does it cost for one — suppose I want to buy one? Can you share the pricing?

Tim: It’s $349 for the whole system. $349.

Alex: $349. So did you develop that technology yourself? Engineered it with all the electricity, lights, and everything?

Dom: He’s the inventor! Inventor!

Tim: I was a radar technician for the Navy for six years.

Alex: You said a radar technician?

Tim: Yeah.

Alex: Wow, fascinating.

Tim: Yes. Anyways I have a lot of smart friends who helped me.

Alex: Cool! Thank you two so much. It’s really cool. I enjoyed seeing your technology. It’s champ.

Dom: Thank you!

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