In the NBA, the Portland basketball team makes sport accessible to the visually impaired thanks to an innovative technology listen (2min)

In the United States, the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA, now offer their blind or visually impaired spectators a device that allows them to follow the evolution of the match in the room. This dispatch, onecourt, works thanks to a small box the size of a laptop, although a thicker. It looks more like a children's toy than an ultra -modern tablet. A basketball field is drawn on it and this box is based on the sense of touch via haptic technology, that is to say the use of vibrations. By putting the tips of his fingers on the device, the spectator follows the action on the ground in real time, and knows the position of the ball. A button allows him to know the score and the time to play at any time. A double vibration indicates, for example, if a player's shot fits the basket. Obviously, the experience can be accompanied by the commentary on the match but the idea is precisely to live the meeting with the rest of the room.

This Seattle start-up, called Onecourt, was created in 2021 by students from the University of Washington in the northwest of the United States. The idea came to the founder when he saw in the stands of a football match a woman moving the hands of a visually impaired on a board to represent him what was going on on the field. The technology, welcomed by Microsoft in particular, has been tested for various sports and after a pilot program for a few months, Onecourt is accessible for all home matches of the Portland Trail Blazers in NBA since January 11. A first in American professional sport. It is not necessarily a coincidence that the Blazers trail use Onecourt. The team belongs to the heirs of Paul Allen, one of the co -founders of Microsoft. “Sport in person should be an experience for everyone, inclusiveness is a value at the heart of our organization”, Note a team spokesperson.

The reactions heard so far are rather positive, some are collected by the onecourt start-up itself so it makes sense. A supporter loved being able to sit in the room and feel where the ball was. A mom says that her 7 -year -old visually impaired daughter loved the experience. On Tiktok, a fan says that it has changed his life, that he no longer needs to spend the match asking what the scoring is his friends and that he has happened to him in the past to encourage the bad team by interpreting what he heard. The device is free but for the moment, there are only five available in the room. The first arrival is the first served.

Onecourt technology is already adapting to basketball, baseball and American football while waiting for ice hockey and football. A version to use at home should also soon arrive on the market.