Frequently Asked Questions

Hope Tech is an assistive technology innovator dedicated to improving the independence of blind and visually impaired people.

Hope Tech’s mission is to use the latest technologies to deliver Sixth Sense, a navigational aid co-designed with the visually impaired community to make their journeys independent and safe.

Hope Tech is launching Sixth Sense, a stylish wearable that sits on your shoulders and an app for your phone that combine to offer a navigational aid that uses ultrasound and infrared object detection, accessible mapping, audio prompts and haptics to keep users safely on course, wherever they want to go.

Sixth Sense is designed to work for people with all levels and types of sight loss.  Sensing sensitivity (i.e. distance), sensing zones (i.e. front, left or right) and level of haptic feedback (i.e. buzzing intensity) can be tailored to your type of visual impairment and preferences. For example, if your frontal vision is good but you struggle with peripheral vision, the front facing zone can be off, so you only receive alerts when objects are detected to your left and right.

Sixth Sense has been co-designed and tested with people experiencing a spectrum of sight conditions, examples include: Retinitis Pigmentosa (various stages), Albinism, Tunnel vision and Night blindness, partially sighted and fully blind (both acquired and congenital).

Sight loss issues are not specific to one diagnosis. View our list of real life problems Sixth Sense offers support for.

Sixth Sense is a stylish wearable that sits on your shoulders and an app for your phone that combine to offer a navigational aid for visually impaired people. It uses ultrasonic and infrared object detection, accessible mapping, audio prompts and haptics to keep users safely on course, wherever they want to go.

To use Sixth Sense, first of all, download the Sixth Sense navigational app to your smart phone. Once paired with your Sixth Sense wearable, you can begin planning your first route using the accessible app. Then begin your journey with the wearable around your neck and your phone in your pocket, allowing both of your hands to remain free to use your cane as usual.

Wearing the Sixth Sense wearable tells the app which way you're facing. Allowing the app to navigate based on the direction the user is actually facing, rather than estimating orientation from GPS movement. This avoids the uncertainty many users experience when setting off from stations, bus stops or unfamiliar places.

Successful navigation depends on two things: knowing where you're going, and knowing it's safe to take the next step. Sixth Sense brings these together by combining global navigation through the app with local awareness from the wearable, creating a navigation experience designed specifically for blind and visually impaired travellers.

Sixth Sense is designed for walking and routes are planned for pedestrians using Google's mapping platform and are communicated using body-oriented clock-face directions, or conventional left-right instructions  that are easy to follow while moving.

Wearing the Sixth Sense wearable tells the app which way you're facing. Allowing the app to navigate based on the direction the user is actually facing, rather than estimating orientation from GPS movement. This avoids the uncertainty many users experience when setting off from stations, bus stops or unfamiliar places.

Sixth Sense keeps your journey flowing. If the user leaves the planned route, the app automatically calculates a new route to the destination, helping users continue their journey without unnecessary interruption.

Designed for different levels of vision. Users can choose between a conventional map view or a high-contrast pointer view with large, simple visual cues, while voice guidance continues to work with the screen off.

Sixth Sense Navigation is designed to reduce interaction with technology while keeping users informed about where they are, which way they are facing, where they are going, and what is around them. The result is a navigation experience that feels natural, predictable and easy to trust.

Frequently visited destinations and recent searches are saved automatically, making regular journeys quick and easy to start.

Sixth Sense Navigation was designed from scratch to work across the full spectrum of sight capability. This shaped how the app is structured, how features are accessed, and how people interact with it.

We designed the navigation experience around the way blind and visually impaired people actually travel, then built the interface to support that experience as simply and naturally as possible. Navigation instructions are body-oriented, using intuitive clock-face/left-right directions rather than compass bearings, and are based on the direction the user is actually facing, rather than an estimate inferred from movement. 

Sixth Sense was designed and tested with Talk Back on Android and Voice Over on iOS. It can be used with or without headphones.

VoiceOver and TalkBack are carefully optimised for users who rely on screen readers, while the visual interface remains clear, legible and intuitive for people with partial sight or full vision.

Sixth Sense Navigation is designed to minimise interaction while you're on the move. The most common functions can be accessed directly from the wearable, allowing users to keep their phone safely in their pocket and their attention on their surroundings.

The Sixth Sense wearable has two buttons you can use during your journey to interact with the Sixth Sense app.

Press the ‘Location’ button and the app will instantly and discretely announce your current location and the direction you are facing, using the speakers in the wearable.

Sixth Sense is specifically designed to keep the user's hands and head free so that they can continue to use their white cane.

Sixth Sense was designed to complement the cane, which testing found is not something people with visual impairments want to forgo. In fact, the cane and Sixth Sense strengths complement each other. Where the cane provides object detection within a 1 meter radius, Sixth Sense adds object detection from 1 to 3 meters. Where the cane is good at detecting changes at ground level to the walking surface, Sixth Sense adds object detection at head height that a cane cannot detect.

Glasses, including Smart Glasses can be worn alongside Sixth Sense. 

Sixth Sense was designed and tested with Talk Back on Android and Voice Over on iOS.

Every visually impaired person travels differently. Remaining vision, mobility techniques, confidence and preferred walking style all vary from person to person. Sixth Sense allows users to tailor both obstacle awareness and navigation so the system complements the way they already travel.

• Sensing range. Detection range can be adjusted to suit different environments, from busy indoor spaces to open outdoor areas.

• Detection zones. Users can enable front sensing, side sensing, or both. For example, someone with reduced central vision may prefer front-only detection, while someone with tunnel vision may benefit more from side awareness. Preferred configurations can be saved and recalled whenever needed.

• Navigation preferences. Users can choose how navigation guidance is delivered and control optional features such as Points of Interest announcements.

• Visual presentation. The app offers both a conventional map view and a high-contrast pointer view, providing an interface that works across different levels of sight.

• Favourite places and recent destinations. Frequently visited locations are stored for quick access, reducing interaction for regular journeys.

Future updates will introduce additional options, including preferred routes that can be saved and repeated with greater control over rerouting.

Sixth Sense is designed to adapt to the individual and to the situation. Whether walking through a crowded railway station, an open park, or a familiar daily route, users can quickly configure the system to provide the level of information and assistance that suits them best.

Sixth Sense will be available for sale via specialist retailers for the Visually impaired, initially in the UK and Austria soon. Pricing from our retail partners will be available once launched. 

In the meantime, please join the Sixth Sense waitlist for updates and to receive an invitation to join the upcoming Sixth Sense Community program for early access to Sixth Sense and introductory discounts.

Check out our Hope Tech blog for details on upcoming trade shows (e.g. Sight Village London, 27-28 Oct 26) and conferences (e.g. ZeroCon27, Vienna 10-12 Feb 27) that Hope Tech is attending, where you can try out Sixth Sense. 

In the meantime, please join the Sixth Sense waitlist for updates and to receive an invitation to join the upcoming Sixth Sense Community program for early access to Sixth Sense and introductory discounts.

Sixth Sense will be available for sale via specialist retailers for the Visually impaired in the UK and Austria soon. If you live in another Country, please join our  Sixth Sense waitlist for updates on product availability in your Country and details on our upcoming Sixth Sense Community program.

We would also encourage you to contact your local Visual Impairment retailer to inquire about stocking Sixth Sense.

Yes, friends, family and supporters can help someone evaluate Sixth Sense and buy it on behalf of someone with sight loss. We would recommend that you speak to one of our distribution partners or Hope Tech beforehand to ensure the suitability of Sixth Sense and to set-up user familiarisation and training. 

Hope Tech has been developing Sixth Sense since 2023 during which time the product format has evolved significantly based on extensive testing at every stage with the Visually impaired community in the UK and Austria.  Hope Tech has benefitted from the goodwill of Visually impaired testers with a variety of sight loss conditions, ranging from night blindness to full blindness. 

Check out examples of testing in action.

Hope Tech prototyped a number of devices to enable sensing and haptic feedback including glasses, watches, handheld devices, chest-mounted systems, pockets and even a full haptic vest. 

The neckband emerged from testing because it consistently gave users the most intuitive and comfortable experience.

Key advantages of the neckband wearable:

1. It is always aligned with your body. Sensors remain aligned with the wearer's direction of travel, providing more intuitive obstacle detection and more reliable orientation for navigation than devices that move independently of the body.

2. Supports natural movement - Blind and visually impaired people often turn their heads to listen without changing direction. A body-centred device follows the path people are actually walking, rather than where their head may be facing for looking or listening.

3. Keeps both hands free - The user can continue using their white cane naturally while the phone stays safely in their pocket. Navigation remains fully hands free.

4. Ears stay open - Integrated shoulder speakers deliver discreet audio while leaving the ears unobstructed, preserving awareness of traffic, people and the surrounding environment.

5. Comfortable all day - The neck comfortably supports the battery needed for practical all-day use without adding weight to the cane or occupying the hands.

6. Works alongside other products - It doesn't compete with glasses, hearing devices, bone-conduction headphones, watches or other wearable technology that users may already rely on.

7. Simple, discreet and socially acceptable - Users consistently rejected bulky glasses, shoes or conspicuous head-mounted devices. The neckband is unobtrusive and is often mistaken for a pair of headphones.

8. Designed around intuitive interaction - Buttons, haptics and audio all remain in fixed, predictable positions on the body, reducing cognitive effort and making the device easier to learn and use.

No single sensing technology performs well in every situation. Every type of sensor has strengths and weaknesses. Through extensive real-world testing, we found that combining ultrasonic and infrared sensing provided the most reliable everyday performance because each technology performs well where the other is less effective.

Our research found that Ultrasonic performs well with detecting hard objects, clear glass, dark materials and in bright sunlight. Whereas, Infrared performs well with soft objects such as foliage, angled and curved surfaces, and highly textured objects that can be difficult for ultrasonic sensing alone.

Together they complement one another. When one technology becomes less effective, the other continues to perform well, giving more reliable obstacle detection across a much wider range of object types, lighting conditions and weather.

Sensor fusion improves confidence. Rather than relying on a single source of information, Sixth Sense compares and combines data from both sensing technologies before deciding what to communicate to the wearer.

For Sixth Sense, we chose direct distance-measuring sensors because they provide the best balance of reliability, battery life, size and comfort for a product that people need to trust every day.

Sixth Sense was designed to provide awareness of the space to the left, right and ahead of the wearer, rather than simply issuing a general obstacle warning.

Distinct sensing zones provide awareness to the left, right and ahead, allowing users to understand where objects are relative to their body, rather than simply being told that an obstacle exists.

Sixth Sense has precisely defined sensing zones. Each zone is formed by a paired ultrasonic and infrared sensor. We developed custom acoustic horns that shape and narrow the ultrasonic sensing field, creating clearly defined zones rather than the broad, overlapping fields typical of conventional ultrasonic sensors. This makes object location much easier to interpret.

Sixth Sense detects obstacles well before they are reached. A white cane typically contacts an object around one metre ahead, whereas Sixth Sense looks 2 to 3 meters ahead, giving users time to slow, change direction or prepare before contact occurs.

Designed to complement the white cane. The cane remains the most reliable way to detect kerbs, drops and trip hazards. Sixth Sense extends awareness into the space beyond the cane, helping users anticipate obstacles that the cane cannot detect until contact, or may pass underneath altogether.

We focused on creating an intuitive understanding of the space around the wearer. Testing showed that clearly defined zones of awareness were far easier to understand and more useful in practice than a single wide sensing field or a simple warning that something was nearby.

Sixth Sense Navigation combines practical navigation with rich environmental information, helping users understand not only how to reach a destination, but also what is around them as they go.

Key differences:

• Built on Google's mapping platform. Sixth Sense uses Google's mapping and Places data, providing extensive global coverage and one of the richest, most frequently updated databases of businesses, landmarks and points of interest available.

• Exploring the space you move through. In addition to turn-by-turn guidance, users can discover what is ahead of them, what is nearby, and receive optional Points of Interest announcements as they walk. This helps users build a mental picture of their surroundings and confirm their progress using familiar landmarks.

• Body-oriented navigation. Directions are given using intuitive clock-face instructions, based on the direction the user is actually facing, making guidance easier to understand while walking.

• Works naturally with the screen off. Voice interaction and hands-free operation allow users to keep their phone safely in their pocket and their attention on their surroundings.

• Designed to grow. The app is free, is updated regularly, and continues to evolve through user feedback and real-world testing, allowing new features and refinements to be delivered over time.

When paired with the Sixth Sense wearable, the app gains additional capabilities including body-centred orientation, hands-free controls and seamless integration with the wearable's obstacle awareness system, bringing local awareness and global navigation together in a single experience.

Throughout its development Sixth Sense has been extensively tested with members of the Visually impaired community whose feedback has been critical to its design and functionality. 

As part of the launch of Sixth Sense, Hope Tech is planning to open an early adopter community program to members of the VI community, which will include: discounts; opportunities to provide product feedback; and enhanced interaction with the Hope Tech team. Please join the Sixth Sense waitlist for updates and an invitation to join our upcoming Community program.

Hope Tech currently partners with many technology, charitable and education organisations active in the Assistive Technology and Visual Disabilities space. 

Examples include: Google, Access Austria, UCL GDI Hub, and Royal Academy of Engineering.

Please contact us at hello@hopetech.vision as we are happy to speak to any organisation interested in collaborating with Hope Tech.

Hope Tech has offices located in Slough, UK and Vienna, Austria.

Please contact us anytime at: hello@hopetech.vision 

Or call us on: + 44 7380 742795