Portland Trail Blazers offering device from Seattle startup to help vision-impaired fans track action – GeekWire

The Portland Trail Blazers will offer technology from a Seattle startup to help blind and low-vision fans better follow the action on the basketball court.

The Trail Blazers are the first professional sports team to provide the haptic device from OneCourt at every home game. The NBA team offered the tech in a three-game pilot at the end of last season.

OneCourt’s laptop device uses generative audio and haptics to translate live gameplay into trackable vibrations, so fans can follow the live action with their fingertips. The Trail Blazers worked with the NBA to provide OneCourt access to the league’s live gameplay tracking data in real-time.

Many blind or vision-impaired sports fans rely solely on audio to follow a sporting event, but that audio can often be behind the live action, and makes going to in-stadium events less appealing. Audio can also lack certain spatial details about what’s transpiring.

OneCourt was co-founded by a group of University of Washington graduates, including CEO Jerred Mace.

“We believe that sports are for everyone, and last year’s pilot proved that OneCourt doesn’t just make live games accessible, it makes them more enjoyable for fans of any age, background, or visual ability,” Mace said in a news release Wednesday.

The Trail Blazers — owned by the estate of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen — are partnering with Tickemaster to make five devices available at Moda Center in Portland on a first come, first served basis.

Fans can email guest.experience@trailblazers.com for reservation inquiry. The devices may be checked out from the guest services stand at entry A7, A24 on the 100-Level and C23 on the 300-Level at each game.

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