NOS provides 5G+ solutions for the blind with audio description of the Alive festival

Six blind or visually impaired people will have access to audio descriptions of the surrounding area of ​​the Alive festival through Guia-NOS and real-time audio description of the Muse concert, two 5G+ solutions. These solutions developed by NOS Inovação are part of the Colete das Emoções initiative, which is once again available to the deaf community at NOS Alive 2025, which kicks off on Thursday at Passeio Marítimo de Algés. Guia-NOS is a pilot initiative that "is being developed internally by NOS teams and which we wanted to test in a festival environment," the operator's director of social responsibility and corporate communications, Margarida Nápoles, told Lusa. This is an app developed by NOS Inovação that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to describe the surrounding space. Using a Xiaomi smartphone, the application describes in real time what the camera films, recognizing objects, people, texts, colors, and facial expressions. Additionally, "we will make available through the NOS Alive App, which is now accessible to blind and visually impaired people, real-time audio description of the Muse concert on the 12th", added the person in charge, noting that "there is no limit here, anyone can test and use it". The development and implementation of the project "involved several dozen people" over several months, said Margarida Nápoles, including the team from NOS Inovação and Access Lab, which acted as a consultant to "make sure that the solution would be relevant for blind or visually impaired people" and which helped find people to test it. "One example of input we had from the blind was the speed of speech in the solution" and "because they are used to hearing everything faster, we had to speed up the speed of the artificial voice", he said. He also highlighted the technicians from NOS's network engineering teams because "this experience would not work without the best connectivity: we have 126 mobile cells at NOS Alive to ensure that the experience is always the best". The official did not disclose investment figures for this pilot initiative, stressing that it "is part of a larger picture" that encompasses the development of 5G technology, innovation, and social responsibility. "We fully believe in the importance of these applications for people who are blind or visually impaired, because this [...] has a direct impact on people's autonomy, inclusion and quality of life", he stressed. In this edition of the festival, NOS once again offers the Colete de Emoções - sensory vests that allow deaf people to enjoy the experience of a concert, capturing the sound of the show and emitting vibrations to the rhythm of the music. "The use of sensory vests is open to any deaf person who wants to go to NOS Alive and they will be available free of charge at the Justice and Anyma concerts on the 11th", said Margarida Nápoles. As these vests work with 5G+ technology, "people will be able to move freely around the venue", he stressed. In addition to the 126 mobile cells to reinforce mobile communications coverage, as well as the Lens Antenna similar to the one used in the SuperBowl, the fixed network was also reinforced with around 1,200 kilometers of fiber optics, spread across the 11 hectares of the venue.

Technical support during the event is comparable to that of a city the size of Aveiro or Coimbra, with the allocation of more than 100 professionals to monitor network operations, with a reinforcement of the 4G and 5G mobile network at stations in the Algés area.

Six blind or visually impaired people will have access to audio descriptions of the surrounding area of ​​the Alive festival through Guia-NOS and real-time audio description of the Muse concert, two 5G+ solutions. These solutions developed by NOS Inovação are part of the Colete das Emoções initiative, which is once again available to the deaf community at NOS Alive 2025, which starts on Thursday, at Passeio Marítimo de Algés. Guia-NOS is a pilot initiative that "is being developed internally by NOS teams and that we wanted to test in a festival environment", the operator's director of social responsibility and corporate communication, Margarida Nápoles, told Lusa. This is an app developed by NOS Inovação that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to describe the surrounding space. Using a Xiaomi smartphone, the application describes in real time what the camera films, recognizing objects, people, texts, colors, and facial expressions. Additionally, "we will make available through the NOS Alive App, which is now accessible to blind and visually impaired people, real-time audio description of the Muse concert on the 12th", added the person in charge, noting that "there is no limit here, anyone can test and use it". The development and implementation of the project "involved several dozen people" over several months, said Margarida Nápoles, including the team from NOS Inovação and Access Lab, which acted as a consultant to "make sure that the solution would be relevant for blind or visually impaired people" and which helped find people to test it. "One example of input we had from the blind was the speed of speech in the solution" and "because they are used to hearing everything faster, we had to speed up the speed of the artificial voice", he said. He also highlighted the technicians from NOS's network engineering teams because "this experience would not work without the best connectivity: we have 126 mobile cells at NOS Alive to ensure that the experience is always the best". The person in charge did not disclose investment values ​​for this pilot initiative, highlighting that "it is part of a bigger picture", which encompasses the development of 5G technology, innovation and social responsibility. "We fully believe in the importance of these applications for people who are blind or visually impaired, because this [...] has a direct impact on people's autonomy, inclusion and quality of life," he stressed. In this edition of the festival, NOS once again offers the Colete de Emoções - sensory vests that allow deaf people to enjoy the experience of a concert, capturing the sound of the show and emitting vibrations to the rhythm of the music. "The use of sensory vests is open to any deaf person who wants to go to NOS Alive and they will be available free of charge at the Justice and Anyma concerts on the 11th", said Margarida Nápoles. As these vests work with 5G+ technology, "people will be able to move freely around the venue", he stressed. In addition to the 126 mobile cells to reinforce mobile communications coverage, as well as the Lens Antenna similar to the one used in the SuperBowl, the fixed network was also reinforced with around 1,200 kilometers of fiber optics, spread across the 11 hectares of the venue.

Technical support during the event is comparable to that of a city the size of Aveiro or Coimbra, with the allocation of more than 100 professionals to monitor network operations, with a reinforcement of the 4G and 5G mobile network at stations in the Algés area.

Six blind or visually impaired people will have access to audio descriptions of the surrounding area of ​​the Alive festival through Guia-NOS and real-time audio description of the Muse concert, two 5G+ solutions. These solutions developed by NOS Inovação are part of the Colete das Emoções initiative, which is once again available to the deaf community at NOS Alive 2025, which starts on Thursday, at Passeio Marítimo de Algés. Guia-NOS is a pilot initiative that "is being developed internally by NOS teams and that we wanted to test in a festival environment", the operator's director of social responsibility and corporate communication, Margarida Nápoles, told Lusa. This is an app developed by NOS Inovação that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to describe the surrounding space. Using a Xiaomi smartphone, the application describes in real time what the camera films, recognizing objects, people, texts, colors, and facial expressions. Additionally, "we will make available through the NOS Alive App, which is now accessible to blind and visually impaired people, real-time audio description of the Muse concert on the 12th", added the person in charge, noting that "there is no limit here, anyone can test and use it". The development and implementation of the project "involved several dozen people" over several months, said Margarida Nápoles, including the team from NOS Inovação and Access Lab, which acted as a consultant to "make sure that the solution would be relevant for blind or visually impaired people" and which helped find people to test it. "One example of input we had from the blind was the speed of speech in the solution" and "because they are used to hearing everything faster, we had to speed up the speed of the artificial voice", he said. He also highlighted the technicians from NOS's network engineering teams because "this experience would not work without the best connectivity: we have 126 mobile cells at NOS Alive to ensure that the experience is always the best". The person in charge did not disclose investment values ​​for this pilot initiative, highlighting that "it is part of a bigger picture", which encompasses the development of 5G technology, innovation and social responsibility. "We fully believe in the importance of these applications for people who are blind or visually impaired, because this [...] has a direct impact on people's autonomy, inclusion and quality of life", he stressed. In this edition of the festival, NOS once again offers the Colete de Emoções - sensory vests that allow deaf people to enjoy the experience of a concert, capturing the sound of the show and emitting vibrations to the rhythm of the music. "The use of sensory vests is open to any deaf person who wants to go to NOS Alive and they will be available free of charge at the Justice and Anyma concerts on the 11th", said Margarida Nápoles. As these vests work with 5G+ technology, "people will be able to move freely around the venue", he stressed. In addition to the 126 mobile cells to reinforce mobile communications coverage, as well as the Lens Antenna similar to the one used in the SuperBowl, the fixed network was also reinforced with around 1,200 kilometers of fiber optics, spread across the 11 hectares of the venue.

Technical support during the event is comparable to that of a city the size of Aveiro or Coimbra, with the allocation of more than 100 professionals to monitor network operations, with a reinforcement of the 4G and 5G mobile network at stations in the Algés area.