Decoding emotions with Adela and Mayra

By

Fanny Laemmel

Not everyone finds it easy to work out how other people are feeling by looking at their face. Adela and Mayra have come up with a solution to help people who find it hard to work out others' expressions.

Mayra grew up with a sister who is autistic. That's a word that describes many kinds of difference that people may have around communicating with others. Mayra recalls that her sister stopped speaking. Mayra promised that when she grew up she would try to help make life easier for people like her sister.

She met Adela when they were students. Adela is a computer engineer and Mayra is a designer. They realised that one thing that makes it hard for autistic people to interact with others is that they don't easily understand the expressions on faces. Because speaking in words is only part of how humans communicate. If someone smiles or frowns or looks sad, those are important messages that some autistic people find hard to decode.

Tech for understanding

Adela and Myra have been working for the past few years on an app that helps people learn what different facial expressions mean. Mayra designs 3D avatars and Adela programmes the app, which is called Emoface. It works like a game and its starting to have an impact. People using Emoface for a couple of months have shown they can get better and understanding how other people are feeling. And once we understand each other, the possibilities are endless!

This weekend, April 2, 2023, is World Autism Awareness Day. Head over to the WoW! News app for some brilliant ideas on how to help others and improve our communication!