Watch an interview with the authors of this article to learn even more! (Video 1).

Reducing Inequalities Around the World

We all want a fair and sustainable world to live in. To achieve this, the United Nations (which is an organization that includes almost all countries) has created a plan to solve the world’s problems, like war, hunger, and climate change. This plan, called the 2030 Agenda, resulted in the creation of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targeting each of those challenges, that countries must aim to achieve by 2030. SDG 10–Reduced Inequalities aims for the world to be a fair place where everyone can succeed and have equal chances, no matter their gender, race, religion, disability, or how much money they have. In a nutshell, SDG 10 is about making sure everyone is treated equally and that countries work together to make this happen. There are several things that need to be done to achieve equality for all. We need to make sure most people have the essentials needed to live, create laws that protect people against discrimination, include people from developing countries in global decisions, and create ways that people with disabilities can have equal opportunities.

Reducing Inequalities With Science

Science can help us achieve SDG 10 by finding ways to make the world fairer for everyone. One way science can help reduce inequalities is through assistive technologies (ATs). ATs help people with disabilities live more independently and allow them to have the same opportunities as people without disabilities [1]. You might already be familiar with several ATs. For example, glasses or contact lenses that help people see better, hearing aids that help people who are hard of hearing, braille textbooks that allow blind people to read, or even wheelchairs that help people with mobility issues to move around more easily (Figure 1) [2].

Reaching SDG 10 also helps us achieve other goals. For example, it supports SDG 4 (Quality Education) by making sure people with disabilities have access to new ways of learning, like braille books or screen readers, or that they have access to online learning if they cannot physically go to school. It also contributes to SDG 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing) by ensuring that people have the tools they need to access healthcare—for example telemedicine—to help them live healthier, more independent lives. When we reduce inequalities, we create a fairer world where everyone can thrive.

Assistive Technologies For People Who Cannot Speak

Some people cannot speak because their bodies work a little differently. For example, some are born with conditions that make it hard for them to control the body parts used for speaking, like the mouth, throat, or brain. Others might have had an accident or a sickness, or something happened to their bodies that affected the ability to speak. It is just like how some people need glasses to see clearly—everyone’s body works differently.

Sound is made when air from the lungs moves through the throat and makes the vocal cords (two tiny bands inside the throat) vibrate. The sound then comes out of the mouth, and we use our tongue, lips, and teeth to turn it into words. Some people cannot make these vibrations, either because their vocal cords do not work, they do not have enough control over their muscles, or their brains cannot send the right signals to make speech happen. But even if they cannot talk, many people use other ways to communicate, like sign language, pictures, or translators [3]. The problem is that most people do not understand sign language and there are almost as many different sign languages as countries in the world!

To help people communicate in a more natural way, scientists studied the reasons why some people cannot speak. They found out that many people with voice problems can still move their lips and sometimes their tongues, but they just cannot make sound. With this in mind, we thought about how we could use the movements people could make to help them communicate without their vocal cords (Figure 2). This way, people could more naturally communicate as if they were talking. We thought it would be great if people with speech difficulties could use their mouths to communicate naturally again!

Using Magnetic Skin to Help People Speak

So far, you have learned that some people who cannot speak cannot create sounds, but they can move the muscles of their lips. So, what if we could find a way to read these small movements and turn them into sound? That is what we did in our research at KAUST. Our team developed a flexible magnetic skin that is safe to wear [4]. It is a thin, stretchy magnet that sticks to the bottom lip and uses wireless sensors and artificial intelligence to detect and predict the words someone is trying to say. This helps people have normal conversations, even if they have trouble speaking [5].

Magnetic skin is a big step forward in wearable technology: it is unnoticeable, its shape, size, and color can be changed, and it is comfortable to wear. As a person moves their mouth, the magnetic field coming from the magnetic skin moves as well. A headset with magnetic field sensors can sense the small mouth movements. These tiny movements change the magnetic field around the sensors, and the sensors turn these changes into digital signals. A program detects the changes and patterns in the signal and is integrated into a phone application that “translates” the patterns into a corresponding letter or word. To achieve this, the program was trained with men and women from six different countries, languages, and accents. The system has correctly predicts 91% of the words a person is saying! The word or phrase the person is saying shows up on the person’s phone screen, offering a new and more natural way for people with voice disorders to communicate (Figure 3).

Wrapping it up

SDG10–Reduced Inequalities is about making the world a fair place where everyone has the same chances to succeed, no matter who they are. This matters because everyone deserves to live their best life and be treated equally. Science helps by creating incredible tools like magnetic skin technology, which helps people who cannot speak turn their lip movements into words. This groundbreaking invention makes it easier for people with speech disabilities to communicate naturally and feel included. Magnetic skin is just one way science is helping achieve SDG 10, by reducing inequalities and creating a more inclusive world. With tools like this, people with disabilities can connect with others and be understood more easily. The future of assistive technology is exciting, and there are endless possibilities for even more amazing inventions. You can help too—keep learning about inequality, support new ideas, and use your creativity to build new things that help make the world fairer for everyone. Together, we can make it happen!

Glossary

Inequalities: ↑ Things that are unfair or unequal for different people, like when some people do not get the same chances, rights, or treatment as others, even though they should.

Discrimination: ↑ When someone is treated unfairly just because of who they are, like their skin color, gender, or abilities.

Assistive Technology: ↑ Any tool or device that helps people with disabilities do things more easily, like communicating, moving, or learning.

Telemedicine: ↑ A system that lets people talk remotely to doctors, get advice, and even get medicine using a phone, tablet, or computer—all without leaving home.

Magnetic Skin: ↑ A flexible, stretchable material that acts like a magnet and can be attached to your body, like a sticker or bandage.

Artificial Intelligence: ↑ Also called AI, is when computers or machines are made to think, learn, or solve problems like humans do—but without actually being alive.

Wearable Technology: ↑ Technology designed to be worn on the body, just like clothing or accessories, so that you use it while you are wearing it.

Magnetic Field: ↑ An invisible force surrounding magnets or magnet-like objects, allowing them to move or interact with each other without direct contact. It is what makes magnets stick to certain metals.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Ruben Costa and Nicki Talbot at KAUST for their invaluable support during the initial writing stage and review process, without which this collection would not have been possible. We also extend our gratitude to the KAUST Office of Sustainability and the UNDP Saudi Arabia Country Office for their dedication to raising awareness of the UN SDGs in our journey toward a more sustainable world.