Innovate UK guiding SoundView Media's smart glasses vision with growth support
Plymouth-based production company SoundView Media is transforming TV and cinematic experiences for people who are deaf or have hearing loss, through its innovative smart glasses application.
The cutting-edge tech, which projects captions directly into the user’s field of view, will make big screen entertainment more accessible to millions of people. With tailored growth support from Innovate UK, SoundView Media has secured over £85,000 in funding, refined its person-centred design and forged strategic partnerships to bring its novel product closer to commercialisation.
Since its founding in 2009, SoundView Media has focused on making the world of entertainment more inclusive. Drawing on its expertise in extended reality technologies, the company is breaking barriers with innovative solutions that enable underrepresented audiences to engage with immersive media.
Gareth Allen, Managing Director of SoundView Media, says: “We want to include more deaf and hard-of-hearing people in screen entertainment so they can watch any screening of any film they want without having to wait for subtitles to be switched on.”
The smart glasses aim to transform the cinema experience, ensuring that deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences no longer face restrictions when attending screenings. The glasses have already been trialled in Europe’s largest immersive dome at Market Hall in Plymouth, and the company is now hoping to scale its innovation.
SoundView Media began working with Innovate UK Business Growth in 2023. Innovation and Growth Specialist, Angelo Spencer-Smith, developed a tailored action plan with it to address its approach to commercialisation and its route to market.
Gareth adds: “When you start out on an innovative project, it can be quite overwhelming – you’ve got loads of ideas, but Angelo really grounded our thinking. He helped us identify and take the right steps.”
Unlocking growth with targeted funding and support
Innovation and Growth Specialist, Adele Reynolds, was introduced to help SoundView Media identify funding opportunities in the creative industries. She recommended the £50,000 Innovate UK Creative Catalyst grant and provided critical appraisal of its successful application. The programme aims to scale up innovation within the creative industries by providing a package of targeted and continuous support to help businesses grow.
A £20,000 grant from The University of Plymouth, secured before Innovate UK Business Growth interventions, has also boosted research and development (R&D) into the product. This financial support enabled SoundView Media to make significant progress in refining its prototype and preparing for market entry.
The company also benefitted from Innovate UK Business Growth’s Design for Growth initiative, which tackled challenges related to branding, product design and customer insights. This initiative built on the innovation and growth specialists’ work and highlighted the importance of person-centred design, a philosophy that Gareth believes is critical to its product’s success: “The Design for Growth initiative meant that we really got a good understanding of person-centred design. And particularly for our product, person-centred design needs to be right at the core of what we do. We’re designing with, not for.”
Partnerships and collaboration driving success
Innovate UK Business Growth facilitated the essential steps to refine SoundView Media’s product through a Research & Technology Organisation (RTO)/Catapult grant, which provided £15,000 and enabled focus groups with deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. These sessions provided invaluable feedback, enabling the company to refine its product in line with user needs.
SoundView Media was also connected with the Augmented Reality for Enterprise Alliance (AREA), which offered key insights into the augmented reality sector, and the British Standards Institute, whose comprehensive collection of standards—made available through Innovate UK Business Growth—is guiding the company towards achieving Net Zero by 2030.
Commenting on these partnerships, Gareth adds: “Innovate UK Business Growth has made a world of difference to our business. Their experts set us on the right path, identified key funding opportunities, and helped us find ways to refine and test the product. It’s ultimately ensured that we’ll get to market quickly with a high-quality product, which is absolutely fantastic.”
Transforming accessibility, boosting the UK economy
SoundView Media’s innovative approach not only addresses a significant social challenge – inclusive entertainment experiences for deaf and hard-of-hearing people – but also contributes to the UK economy. By creating a high-quality, marketable product, the company is strengthening the country’s position as a global leader in accessible technology.
With Innovate UK’s continued support, SoundView Media is ready for the next stage of its growth journey, to extending the availability of its smart glasses to diverse audiences across the UK.
Innovate UK Business Growth has made a world of difference to our business. Their experts set us on the right path, identified key funding opportunities, and helped us find ways to refine and test the product.
– Gareth Allen, Managing Director of SoundView Media
Related programme
Creative Catalyst
The Creative Catalyst is a £30 million programme of phased financial and non-financial activities to provide end to end innovation support for high potential businesses in the creative sector.