Since the onset of the global pandemic, we have lost the flexibility to meet friends, families, and colleagues in person. Therefore, we incubated an innovative web application, a drop-in video chat social network, to foster spontaneous connections with your friends and a 2nd-degree network that supports up to 12 people in the same room. Our service will improve the sense of belonging and provide a new venue for people to meet and connect.

Currently, there is not enough information available to the public when it comes to hearing health, and this is creating a stigma where people are reluctant and even refusing to wear hearing aids. Hearing Education, working with Sound Sustainability, focuses on increasing awareness of the importance of hearing health by providing helpful resources all in one location. Our team, along with two other student-led teams, hopes to destigmatize hearing loss by teaching people about their own hearing and helping them engage in the hearing community.

The pandemic has caused us to start shifting towards a more remote workspace for students and industry workers. Software developers have the tools to be able to work in this condition, but the experience is not always great. Developers in teams have trouble working together on projects because the current tools available make it difficult. Most of the issues lie in the fact that code is not easily shareable and requires slightly tedious tasks to do so. That is why we have made SSCode—an online programming platform that allows developers to create programming scripts online and script synchronously with others.

Everyone is a book filled with their own life stories. How much do we actually know about them? StoryBond is a social media app that encourages people to share and exchange stories, and these stories have the power to turn acquaintances into friends. Our app is a place to know more about the people you have met through the exchange of stories. The story can be an idea, a personal anecdote, or an experience. StoryBond provides a way that helps people connect on a deeper level. Hopefully, our users can make true bonds through writing and exchanging stories.

Misinformation is a pressing global issue; it is increasingly easy to post false or misleading information on the internet and reach massive audiences. Alongside the Center for an Informed Public, Puzzle Break, and The Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA), we created an online escape room to mimic the psychological and emotional responses elicited by real-life interactions with digital misinformation. The escape room aims to equip players with the necessary skills to identify misinformation online and become savvy, skeptical digital citizens.

According to the NIDCD, 15% of American adults (37.5 million) report some trouble hearing, yet only 1 in 5 people that would benefit from a hearing aid use one. Sound Sustainability’s online hearing screening removes barriers preventing people from determining whether they have hearing loss. To do this, we worked with audiologists to produce a free, easy-to-use, hearing screening that has users listen and respond to a series of tones played at different frequencies and decibels. Our goal is to allow people concerned for their hearing health to quickly check their hearing within the comfort of their own homes.

With the rise of gentrification in the Seattle Chinatown-International District, the intrinsic sense of community is slowly eroding. However, public interest in these local communities can spread awareness, which helps preserve the rich history found there. Wander is a website developed to amplify the voices of local restaurants and promote the cultural significance of Seattle’s Chinatown-International District. Not only will business owners get the chance to tell their stories about their food, but we hope that visitors will also be inspired to engage with and learn about the people at the heart of this community.

Approximately half of the US immigrant population is limited English proficient (LEP). The language barrier leads to stress and health issues and hinders immigrants’ employment opportunities, social environment, and more. Existing online translation services don’t offer further explanation and are often unusable for immigrants with limited education, including low reading and writing comprehension in their home language. Our app bridges this gap and provides real-time, interactive translation help from bilingual and multilingual volunteers who can further explain translations and the context surrounding them, whether cultural or technological. Wave helps LEP users navigate daily life with independence and peace of mind.

Employees at mid- to large-sized companies are faced with many challenges when it comes to connecting with peers and cultivating new working relationships. It can be intimidating to make new friendships outside of your team, and demanding work schedules can make this even more difficult. WorkConnects aims to foster new workplace friendships by automatically matching employees based on their availability and interests.