Cox empowers customers with disabilities to control TV video guide with their eyes

THE COX COMMUNICATIONS Accessible Web Remote for its Contour TV subscription package means viewers with disabilities can operate their viewer guide using just their eyes or by blowing into a tube. / COURTESY COX COMMUNICATIONS

WEST WARWICK – Cox Communications unveiled a new feature on its Contour TV subscription package Accessible Web Remote.

The feature empowers customers to browse the video guide with a look, or gently blowing into a tube. The technology is designed for those with disabilities that have caused a loss of fine motor skills, with degenerative conditions or paralysis, the company said in a statement.

The free, web-based remote control uses eye-gaze hardware and software, switch controls and sip-and-puff systems, according to Cox, which the user controls by blowing into a tube.

Eye-tracking technology gives TV viewers with conditions such as Parkinson’s disease or Lou Gehrig’s disease, which is also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the same access as other Contour viewers, Cox said in a statement.

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“Innovative technology like this gives people with disabilities an added level of independence,” said Steve Gleason, founder of Team Gleason and a former New Orleans Saints football player who has been living with ALS since 2011. “We appreciate that companies like Cox continue to empower their users by adopting products like the Accessible Web Remote, which allows every customer to do something most people take for granted, like controlling their TV.”

Over the past three years, Cox has partnered with organizations such as Team Gleason to ensure accessible design and development of its products.

Customers can visit webremote.cox.com to sync their devices, begin changing channels and learn about other functionality within Contour.

Susan Shalhoub is a PBN contributing writer.

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