While we love to complain about technology and how the damn kids are just glued to their phones all the time, most of us probably couldn't imagine a world without the technological advancements of recent years. And tech these days isn't just about quality-of-life improvements. Google's suite of accessibility apps is proof of that, allowing people otherwise cut off from the world to take part in it fluently. The Look to Speak app is one of these, as it allows fully paralyzed people to use nothing but their eyes to communicate. And now, an update has added support 17 additional languages, as detailed in the Play Store description.

WHAT'S NEW

Added support for the following languages: Arabic (Modern Standard Arabic), Bengali, German, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (LatAm), French, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Marathi, Portuguese, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Vietnamese.

Thanks to the newly supported languages, many more people around the world will have an easier way of communicating with their loved ones and care staff.

Regardless of language, the app is based on machine learning algorithms that track a person's eye movements using the front camera. Its barebones interface consists of two rows of often-used phrases and words that can be selected and narrowed down by glancing left and right. Once a phrase or word has been singled out, it's selected and spoken out loud by the phone. It's also possible to customize the app with additional vocabulary and terms, and the gazing sensitivity can be adjusted, too.

Of course, the app isn't a replacement for more advanced assistive machines that allow the physically impaired to communicate whatever they want to. But Google's solution does have the advantage that it can live on a hyper-portable smartphone, providing an instantly accessible and much cheaper solution that nursing staff and caregivers can fall back on if other solutions aren't immediately available.

The app update is available for free on the Play Store, suitable for devices running Android 9 and higher.