The following is a guest article by Roland Mattern, Director of Sales at eSight by Gentex Corporation

In today’s rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, technology is enabling more inclusive, personalized care than ever before. From wearables that enhance vision to custom mobility devices, tech innovations are redefining how individuals with disabilities or health challenges engage with the world around them. At the center of this transformation are assistive and adaptive technologies—tools that, when thoughtfully integrated, offer powerful support and restore independence across a wide range of conditions.

Both technologies have made significant strides in recent years, thanks to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, data integration, and user-centric design. While assistive technologies are often used to support common tasks and general needs, adaptive technologies take things a step further, customizing support based on the individual. Together, they create a more holistic and effective model of care.

Assistive Technologies: Real-World Innovations Making a Difference

Often used interchangeably with one another, assistive and adaptive technologies play distinct yet complementary roles in healthcare. While both aim to improve patient care and enhance independence, their function and application differ significantly. Assistive technologies are designed to help individuals perform everyday tasks by providing solutions that address specific challenges or limitations, often built specifically to address disabilities. On the other hand, adaptive technologies often modify existing technology to provide solutions designed to meet a patient’s individual needs.

To better understand the impact of these types of innovations, it’s helpful to look at specific tools that illustrate how they are being applied in real-world settings. Here are some examples of assistive technologies available on the market that are pioneering new ways to improve patient accessibility.

• AI Hearing Aids: Phonak hearing aids leverage advanced AI to enhance the listening capabilities of individuals with hearing loss; with features like automatic sound adjustments and noise reduction, these hearing aids improve speech understanding in challenging environments, such as crowded spaces or noisy backgrounds 

• Hands-Free Devices: GlassOuse Assistive Device helps people who cannot use technology due to disabilities or limited bodily movement; through their wireless head mouse, individuals can connect and control devices, including mobile phones, computers, tablets, and smart TVs, simply via head movement

Adaptive Technologies: Personalized Tools for Unique Needs

While assistive tools provide broad support for certain disabilities, adaptive technologies can build off and tailor that support to the individual, allowing them to evolve as the patient’s needs change. These tools often evolve with the user and involve collaboration between healthcare providers, engineers, and patients to ensure the best fit. Adaptive technologies range from customized prosthetics and specialized wheelchairs to cochlear implants, each designed to improve the patient’s ability to navigate their environment and perform daily tasks, as their needs change, with greater ease. 

Wearables for Vision Loss

eSight by Gentex is designed to enhance vision for individuals with central vision loss using a high-speed camera and advanced technology, capturing and processing real-time video, to help them see better. eSight is an assistive device that adapts to users with different levels of vision loss and allows them to customize and adjust the settings to fit their specific vision needs as they change. This advanced wearable device enables users to reconnect with loved ones, retain their mobility and independence, and rediscover hobbies.

Prosthetics

Ottobock is a global leader in prosthetic technology, offering a wide range of solutions designed to enhance mobility for individuals with limb differences. Many of Ottobock’s solutions are highly customizable, allowing users to select features like socket design and liners that align with their unique needs and lifestyles.

Wheelchairs

Everest and Jennings wheelchairs are designed to offer improved comfort and posture. Their Tilt-In-Space wheelchair helps people with conditions like cerebral palsy, spinal injuries, or neurological disorders stay comfortable and independent throughout daily activities. These wheelchairs offer customizable features such as adjustable seat angles, headrests, and support cushions to accommodate each user’s specific medical and ergonomic needs as they change.

Complementary Technologies for Personalized Care

Rather than choosing between assistive or adaptive solutions, the most effective care strategies often combine both. By layering general-use technologies with tailored enhancements, healthcare providers can build more robust, personalized systems of support.

For example, someone experiencing vision loss might begin with general assistive tools like magnifiers or screen readers. If those tools fall short in enabling full mobility or function, more advanced adaptive technologies, such as eSight Go, can step in to fill the gap. Similarly, a patient recovering from injury might benefit from both an off-the-shelf communication device and a customized mobility aid, depending on their evolving needs.

When to Use Each Type of Technology

The decision to implement assistive or adaptive technology (or both) depends on several factors:

• Assistive technology is often best suited for disabilities that are widely experienced, such as hearing loss, and when ease of access and speed of implementation are priorities
• Adaptive tech is ideal when personalization significantly enhances usability or when patients face complex or evolving needs that require ongoing support

Healthcare providers and caregivers should assess each patient’s condition and goals to determine the right mix of solutions. When integrated intentionally, assistive and adaptive technologies create a more supportive environment that empowers users and advances overall well-being.

Improving Patient Outcomes Through Assistive and Adaptive Technologies

By removing physical and cognitive barriers, assistive and adaptive technologies help individuals regain control over their lives, fostering a profound sense of independence and confidence. Enhancing the patient experience across various settings, including in-home care and rehabilitation environments, assistive and adaptive technologies play a pivotal role in helping patients regain their mobility and capabilities during recovery or the management of ongoing health conditions. By incorporating these technologies into everyday life, patients can interact more seamlessly with their environment and live more fully.

About Roland Mattern

Roland Mattern, Director of Sales for eSight by Gentex, brings over 30 years of experience in sales and marketing for medical devices and pharmaceuticals, with the past two decades focused on ophthalmology. His unwavering dedication to eSight’s mission—to empower individuals with sight loss through enhanced vision—drives his work. Having spent his career marketing vision-assistive devices, Mattern has witnessed firsthand how companies like eSight are transforming lives and redefining what’s possible for those with visual impairments.