Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close: Maro Manoli’s AI E-mbracelet Helps Autistic Kids

For people living with neurological disorders, crises are imminent. Imagine living in a world where a certain sound, smell or texture can cause you physical pain – and then imagine not being able to communicate it. Studies differ in exact data, but many suggest that up to 60% or even 70% percent of people with autism could suffer from noise sensitivity. Taking into account that many neurodivergent people are also nonverbal, those statistics could be higher. How to avoid meltdowns, when communication is not possible? How to approach the impossible task of perceiving the world through the eyes of our closed ones? 

When everyday life turns into careful planning, technology can be used in an uplifting way. This is the premise of E-mbracelet: start-up founded by Cyprian Maro Manoli, which produces software aimed at helping caregivers or parents of autistic children avoid meltdowns caused by noise sensitivity. We talked to Manoli about her building encounters with the neurodivergent community, her approach towards making AI more inclusive, and the dangers of stigmatisation.

Iga Trydulska: Your project began with your team encountering difficulties that people with autism face. What’s the whole story?

Maro Manoli: It all started with an university course. I am a recent graduate of Business Administration from University of Cyprus, and we had an assignment that was about creating an innovative product, something that didn’t exist at all. We put together a multidisciplinary team, consisting of business, accounting, engineering and computer science students. At first, we didn’t think the product we would create for assignment purposes would eventually become a real product, but we still wanted to do something that will have a social impact. To be close to the real issues, we knew that we need to talk to our loved ones and ask them what problems they face in their daily lives. Immediately, my aunt came to mind: she has a son that is 12 years old, who is autistic and nonverbal. Additionally, he suffers from noise sensitivity: different noises can cause him a crisis. He’s easily bothered or even in pain sometimes. My aunt told me about the issues that they have in communication: as he is nonverbal, there are times when she can’t understand him. If there is a crisis coming up, she doesn’t know: she doesn’t perceive the world through his senses. We saw that autistic community is underserved by the technology community. We knew we had to work on that.

IT: So, you created a software – E-mbracelet – that can help. How does it work?

MM: The whole idea is that through our application, which is connected to smartphones and smartwatches, we harvest data from heart rate monitoring and microphones. Then, our AI models provide an analysis. The parent, caregiver or teacher – depending on the situation – has the application and the kid with autism is wearing the smartwatch. The key element of the whole project is the sound identification. For example, if I am triggered by a certain sound, the application will be able to identify that sound. Parents will have access to triggering sounds for their kids, so they will be able to provide better healthcare.

IT: What is the exact role of AI in this process?

MM: Something that E-bracelet helped us better understand is that everyone is different and everyone requires personalised data driven treatment. This is why we decided to use AI to analyse the data we collect: the heart rate monitoring and the sound info. We have three separate models to gather and pre-elimarely analyse data and one that connects the models to the application. At the moment, we mostly use machine learning algorithms. 

IT: Apart from the IT, the name of your product suggests a physical component in the form of a bracelet. I am autistic myself, and I know from my own experience that the issue of touch is also sometimes difficult. Why did you choose to use smartwatches, so something not necessarily tailored to each user?

MM: Yes, initially the plan was to create our own hardware – a bracelet. Noise sensitivity is not the only issue: as you mentioned, many people are also sensitive to touch. We wanted to make something from scratch, designed for people with autism: with tailored material, colours, feel and touch. This is still in our plans at a later stage. But the issue of stigmatisation arises. Our product is aimed at children aged 4 to 14, and we want to make something that you know helps every child feel like this is a part of themselves, not a strange device, not something that would make it obvious to others that they are struggling. Smartwatches are already worn by many people – so they don’t look like a medical device, and don’t stigmatise people that wear them. 

IT: As I understand, members of your team are not neurodivergent. How do you make sure that you listen to the community and follow their wishes?

MM: We created an advisory board, where we have medical experts that specialise in autism. I cannot tell you how much they have helped us, because they made us realise that everyone experiences a different kind of a struggle. We are doing research, reading articles, conducting interviews with people. Another aspect is that as we create medical device for kids, it may be difficult to get the trust from the parent. Cyprus is a small community and people are not as open minded as in the bigger European countries. That challenged us, but approaching this the right way, we have built a solid community. Another challenge that we face is that this is a very personalised product and it needs to be different for every person. General information does not help the parents. Including AI advanced models is what actually helps us to bring this closer to reality. 

IT: Concerning AI development – Cyprus is in the EU, and the recent AI Act posed strict regulations on using AI or ML in medical devices. How do you ensure that not only the users are comfortable, but also that the data is safely stored and ethically harvested?

MM: E-mbracelet it is not exactly a medical device, as we do not create hardware. As it is not an invasive medical device, we still have rules we have to follow. We prioritise only collecting the necessary data. We conduct audits of privacy and strictly adhere to the GDPR. It is additionally challenging, as we are in contact with universities in Cyprus and abroad, and we know that by collecting this specific data, we will be able to help research help more people. While we collect data, we need to keep them anonymous. We provide a very clear privacy policy to the parents and caregivers, because we need them to understand that this data is being used for this specific thing and nothing else. There’s a reason that medical devices are often risky, but we are closely following EU law. 

IT: Why do you think the neurodivergent community is underserved by the technology industry – and how we can use those technologies in an inclusive way?

MM: Well, this market is big, but not as big as other markets: big corporations will focus on enormous, general markets, which I understand. But this is where new startups and young people can come in and see how they can challenge the status quo. If you want to make a change, there is a market for that. As a team we want to expand our services and add more features so we can help not only autistic people: many people have different conditions, but experience similar symptoms. Sensitivity can apply to people with autism, but also with epilepsy, neurological disorders, personality disorders… Technology is out there. We just have to take it, modify it, and put it into good use.