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When everyone was forced into lockdown and had no choice but to work remotely, like the rest of us, Gary LaSasso and the team at Amicus Therapeutics<\/a><\/span> shifted to a collaboration technology-supported remote working model.\u00a0 Gary\u2019s team quickly discovered that remote collaboration had become the great equalizer. As a biotech firm that searches for potential treatments for rare and devastating diseases, Amicus had always advocated for and implemented an inclusive workforce \u2013 including employees with disabilities of all types.\u00a0 When the world switched to remote working, suddenly all employees were connecting and collaborating as equals.\u00a0 For Gary, it meant the barriers to employment \u2013 be they geographical or physical \u2013 had been removed.\u00a0 Clearly, another pandemic silver lining.<\/p>\nTECH THAT LEVELS THE PLAYING FIELD<\/h4>\n
Anthony DeVergillo, Gary\u2019s colleague, manages Amicus\u2019 internal communications.\u00a0 He has done so from his home for the past four years as the rare neuromuscular disorder he lives with, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy weakens his muscles to the point that he needs to use a wheelchair and requires a noninvasive ventilator to assist his breathing.<\/p>\n
When all of Amicus\u2019 employees were forced to connect remotely during the pandemic \u2013 and discovered the tremendous value in having high-quality collaboration tools \u2013 suddenly the experience of collaborating with Anthony was no different than collaborating with any other Amicus employee.\u00a0 The pandemic leveled the playing field.<\/p>\n
However, there was still one work issue that Anthony said raised his anxieties.\u00a0 He was always self-conscious about the noises his ventilator made during calls.\u00a0 It is loud, produces a high-pitched squeal, and makes a significant noise every time he takes a breath.\u00a0 Of course, none of his colleagues minded the noise while seeking out his thoughtful perspective and vast expertise with brand architecture, but he knew that people would \u2013 at least subconsciously \u2013 find it distracting at best.<\/p>\n
POLY\u2019S ENGINEERING TEAM STEPPED-IN TO HELP<\/h4>\n
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While Poly\u2019s engineers designed NoiseBlock AI with more mundane distractions in mind (a vacuum cleaner, a rustling bag of food, etc.), it was conceivable that this powerful algorithm would be able to detect that Anthony\u2019s ventilator noise was not speech \u2013 and without any additional tweaking.\u00a0 It was certainly an experiment worth trying.\u00a0 We shipped one of our new Poly Studio P15<\/a><\/span> personal collaboration bars to Anthony as a demo, and the results were remarkable.\u00a0 Nearly all of the extraneous sound that had been passing through his old setup was blocked by the microphone array and processor built-in to the unit.\u00a0 Have a listen to our recent Microsoft Teams video conversation for yourself \u2013 and be sure to note the difference in the audio when I ask Anthony to switch to the Poly microphone system:<\/p>\n