Global Accessibility Awareness Day Message from Kenichiro Yoshida Chairman and CEO, Sony Group Corporation
The third Thursday of May each year is Global Accessibility Awareness Day to talk, think and learn about accessibility.
As a creative entertainment company, Sony drives a diverse range of businesses centered around people, based on our Corporate Direction of "getting closer to people."
People are also at the center of our approach to accessibility, and by working together with individuals with diverse needs, we are implementing inclusive design features that incorporate their perspectives into our product development processes.
For example, in the area of games, we have incorporated the feedback of accessibility organizations and experts during the development process of the Access™ controller for PlayStation®5.
Through playtesting with many gamers across three continents, we created a highly customizable accessibility controller kit that enables gamers with disabilities to play more comfortably and for longer periods.
Additionally, many studios at PlayStation Studios are dedicated to creating games that are inclusive and accessible. Carrying forward key learnings from past games and continuing their collaboration with accessibility consultants, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 from Insomniac Games has the most accessible features of any PlayStation title to date with notable accessibility features such as Game Speed, Screen Reader, Challenge Level Modifiers, and more.
In the area of pictures, for the past six years, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has been a key sponsor of the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge (EDFC), a film challenge which gives aspiring filmmakers the opportunity to showcase their talents, and a host of the award ceremony at the Sony Pictures Studio lot in Culver City, California. And this year, the EDFC announced it had created the industry's first-ever disability loop group*. SPE hosted a voiceover workshop for members of the loop group, which included coaching from Sony Pictures Animation executives. Actors who voiced the roles of Lego-Spider-Man and Sun-Spider, the wheelchair-using spider person in Spider-Man™: Across the Spider-Verse are part of this group.
* A loop group is a group of voiceover actors who record audio - such as dialogue for extras and general background noise - in post-production.
In the area of music, following on from the Ultra Light Saxophone exhibited at CEATEC 2023 last year, we are now working on development of the "Hug Drum," a percussion instrument that anyone can play together.
On this project, we are collaborating with the World Yuru Music Association, which produces a world of music where anyone can play and join an ensemble straight away, together with people with hearing impairments and also professional musicians such as the Japanese artist Kavka Shishido of el tempo.
Sony Group employees in Japan, India, China and other countries and regions are also endorsing "Yuru music" ("yuru" in Japanese means free, generous, flexible and approachable, among a range of other nuanced meanings), and are working to develop the next "Yuru" musical instrument, through initiatives such as hackathons which have been held in various locations.
Scenes from the development of "Hug Drum"
In the area of Entertainment Technology & Services, our LinkBuds with open-ring design for audio transparency are able to provide enhanced capabilities through their integration with Eye Navi, a walking support application for people with visual impairments developed by Computer Science Institute. Through a new voice guidance function that has just been released for the product in Japan, the LinkBuds can detect the direction of a user's head, and enable them to hear intuitive voice navigation alongside the natural sound of their surroundings. It has been developed in collaboration with people with visual impairments and with the aim of enhancing the daily mobility of a diverse range of users.
In order to further promote these initiatives for inclusive design across the Sony Group, it is also essential to enhance the awareness of each individual employee. We regularly hold internal workshops where employees have the opportunity to dialog with people with disabilities, and to learn about their needs to gain new insight.
We will continue to create opportunities for more creators to thrive, regardless of their individual characteristics such as age, disability, capability or circumstances. And by providing products, services and entertainment that a diverse range of people can enjoy, we aim fulfill our Purpose to fill the world with emotion.
Kenichiro Yoshida
Chairman and CEO, Sony Group Corporation
