Developing effective communication tools for speech-impaired individuals. How Ukrainian startup EYA works
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In our recurring Who Are These People section, Vector offers founders an opportunity to discuss their projects, covering aspects such as their products, marketing strategies, monetisation, investments, and plans. The focus this time is on EYA — Enhance Your Ability, a Ukrainian startup developing an inclusive communication platform for people with disabilities.
Vector’s editor-in-chief Yuliia Tkach interviewed Serhii Rylskyi, co-founder and CEO, about the product’s features, promotion, investments, and plans.
Conception
EYA has two co-founders.
- Serhii Rylskyi, CEO. A seasoned professional with 15 years in software development, proficient in mobile and AI technologies. He has a background in creating and bringing digital products to market.
- Ivanna Rylska, Head of Community. An expert in digital marketing and PR, she has a background in promoting social initiatives and developing communities.
As Serhii explains, the product was «born from tears, pain, love, and hope», stemming from the founders’ personal story.
«Yaryna, our 6-year-old daughter, has cerebral palsy, which prevents her from speaking and controlling her body movements. She is inquisitive and lucid, her cognitive ability to comprehend information is fully intact, and she has a profound need for communication. As parents of a disabled child, we have sought out a range of interventions, including speech therapists and mental health professionals, in an effort to hear her voice.
Still, it didn’t produce any measurable impact. The inability to understand our child created a lot of miscommunication within the family. At that point, we were aware of alternative communication types, yet we were hesitant to embrace them. There was a concern that introducing alternative communication, such as cards, would cause the child to lose interest in developing natural language», — says Serhii.
Roughly two years ago, Serhii and Ivanna discovered eye tracker technology, a system enabling computer operation via eye movement. The device was provided to them with the support of the Dzherelo Centre and UNICEF.
«While it appeared as a beacon of hope, the limitations quickly became apparent: the communication process remained slow and cumbersome. On top of that, the device was expensive, so most families couldn’t afford it. In Ukraine, only 10 children have received these devices over the past 4–5 years. As someone with 15 years of programming expertise, I knew we could build a system to notably upgrade existing ones, making them universally accessible», — EYA’s CEO explains.
This gave the Enhance Your Ability team a vision — to develop an affordable application that would greatly accelerate communication, since the interaction process was painstakingly long even with specialised devices. This is because the child has to select cards or words from hundreds of options using only their eyes to express their thoughts.
EYA was launched on 1 February 2025. As of now, the platform has 600 registered users, with daily active usage ranging from 15 to 30 individuals.
In addition to the founders, the team includes six people: developers and content specialists.
Product and audience
EYA is a communication platform for speech-impaired people. The process is as follows: users choose particular cards or words in the app to convey their message. The chosen elements are then articulated verbally. This describes the functionality of the basic, no-cost version, open to everyone.
At its core, the application is designed to feature an AI module that will facilitate communication by proposing context- and location-specific phrases and sentences for users to choose from. The project is at its final development phase.
«We place a strong emphasis on the application of AAC (alternative and augmentative communication) within educational settings. Yaryna’s schooling begins in September, and we look forward to implementing all our achievements there. Our plan is to add functionality that helps parents efficiently create educational resources for use in the app», — explains Serhii.
According to a study, a percentage of Ukrainians living with speech disorders is somewhere between 0.4% and 1.2%. Assuming the country’s population of around 40 million, these percentages represent an affected cohort of 160,000–480,000 individuals. The objective is to reach approximately 25,000 40,000 persons from this demographic. The reason for this number is simply that people don’t have a lot of extra cash.
«We estimate the Ukrainian market at $3–5 million. At a 3–5% market penetration, the SOM is approximately $90,000–$250,000», — notes EYA’s CEO.
The target audience for EYA is defined as:
- educational facilities, rehabilitation centres, and developmental hubs serving individuals with disabilities;
- special educational needs assistants, teachers, speech and language therapists, psychologists, and speech pathologists;
- people with disabilities unable to speak due to various underlying causes.
Business model
They are currently starting as a B2C project, primarily targeting individual consumers. Their future strategy involves B2B (rehabilitation centres, educational institutions, etc.) and B2G (where the state subsidises the use of specialised aids).
Their future strategy leans towards concentrating on one definitive model, yet they remain in an experimental mode, exploring the best possible setup.
They plan to provide basic features for free, with premium features accessible via a $10 monthly subscription and licenses. Premium features include: high-quality voice generation, the AI feature, the learning module, and professional tools.
Marketing
«Awareness of alternative communication tools is remarkably low in Ukraine right now, so we’re striving to reach as many people as we can. We’re using social media for this, and we’ve already hit 1,300 subscribers. This is a page where we share information about AAC and inclusion in general, drawing from our own experiences. We understood that telling our story is far more impactful than merely suggesting solutions. “We illustrate daily life scenarios, such as a child using EYA to order ice cream, attending a paediatric appointment, or reciting poems at nursery school», — Serhii explains.
Investments
EYA is currently funded by its founders. The total cost from conception to the present stage has been around $15,000–$20,000. The team was granted $10,000 after winning the WinWin Deep Tech Accelerator from AI House.
Plans
«Our ambition is to launch the AI module globally, demonstrating the potential for truly high-quality communication. We also intend to launch efforts on the educational module and a therapist’s virtual workspace (or institutional hub), designed to allow seamless patient interaction, creation of bespoke resources, and detailed progress tracking. Naturally, we need to implement subscription models to ensure the project’s continued development», — summarised the entrepreneur.
The EYA team is part of the L’Oréal Startup Hub 2.0 program to support Ukrainian startups from UNIT.City & L’Oréal Ukraine L'Oréal Paris' parent company condemned Russia's war against Ukraine and announced it was pausing investments and sales in Russia. However, the L'Oréal Paris factory in Kaluga continues to operate and pay taxes to the Russian budget. . Vector is the exclusive media partner of the program: we are preparing a series of articles about the participating startups.
The Vector editorial team supports the development of Ukrainian innovation. The publications do not promote or support the position of individual partners.
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