ATU781 – Munevo with Claudiu Hidas

Hi, this is Claudiu Hidas and I’m the CEO of Munevo, and this is your assistive technology update.

(Upbeat music)

Hello, and welcome to your Assistive Technology Update, a weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist individuals with disabilities and special needs. I’m your host, Josh Anderson with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. Welcome to episode 781 of Assistive Technology Update. It is scheduled to be released on May 15th, 2026. On today’s show, we’re going to learn all about Munevo and how it is offering individuals a whole new way to control their mobility. We also have an in depth story about telecoils and how these work to help individuals with hearing loss, better access sound in public spaces. And we’re joined by Bridging Apps with an app worth mentioning. Don’t forget, listeners, if you ever have a question, a comment, or even a suggestion for someone we should have on the show, please do reach out. You can call our listener line at 317-721-7124, or shoot us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org.

If you’re looking for a transcript of today’s show, please go over and find the show at eastersealstech.com. A full transcript will be available right there, and our transcripts are generously sponsored by inTRAC. You can find out more about inTRAC at relayindiana.com. As always, listeners, thank you for listening, and let’s go ahead and get on with the show. If you happen to have questions about assistive technology, we have Assistive Technology Frequently Asked Questions, or ATFAQ. The show is hosted by Brian Norton and features yours truly, along with Belva Smith, as we all talk about assistive technology with questions that come in from email, phone calls, and other means. We also don’t always know the answer, so it’s very important that we have listeners that can help us out with some of those questions because while we like to think every once in a while that we may know everything, we’re proven wrong almost daily on that one. So if you’re looking for more podcasts to listen to, or if you have questions about assistive technology, make sure to check out Assistive Technology Frequently Asked Questions, wherever you get your podcasts.

For folks who’ve been listening to the show, you may know that last month we had our AT Awareness Day Open House celebration here at Easter Seals Crossroads. This was a wonderful day with a really great turnout of folks that came in to kind of tour our programs, learn more about our programs, touch, feel different assistive technology, get to try it out, both things for work, for school, for college, for home, for gaming, for music, for really all kinds of different needs. We also realized that being here in central Indiana, not everybody can make it here in person. So in light of that, we also did a remote open house. So we opened up our Zoom room and basically gave a full tour as if someone was actually here for that open house. For folks who weren’t able to make it to either of those, we did record that entire open house and it is now available on YouTube. I put a link down in the show notes that you can easily get to the video. You can also get there through the INDATA Project YouTube channel.

You can also search for it and we’ll make sure we have links on the website to get to it as well. But if you’ve ever want a little bit of a deeper dive of what does the INDATA Project do, what do the other AT programs here at Easterseals Crossroads do and get to meet the amazing folks who provide these services every day. I encourage you to go check out the video. It is about an hour long. So definitely set aside some time if you’re looking to actually watch the whole thing, but it gives you a very good overview of not just what is assistive technology. It also talks a little bit about assistive technology awareness day and the importance of this here in the U.S. But where it really shines is it gets to highlight the amazing people here on our staff. In the INDATA Project, our clinical ATR home modification, as well as our Atlas Project and getting to meet them, see some of the things they do, as well as just see some of the devices that are out there to meet the varied needs of individuals in the community.

So if you’d like a great overview of kind of our programs, a great overview of some of the assistive technology you’ve probably heard about on this show, and really get an idea of just the amazing things, the amazing folks that I get to work with every single day are out there doing. Please do go check out our video for the INDATA AT Awareness Day Open House. Again, it’s not the same as being here in person, but it’s a whole lot less travel if you’re not in the area. So a link’s down in the show notes, go on and check it out. Our story today comes to us from Consumer Reports. It’s written by Catherine Roberts and it’s titled, “It’s one of the best hearing aid features. Many still aren’t using it.” So an assistive technology update, we do our best to try to talk to folks about new technology, our guest coming up included, but sometimes it’s also important to look at maybe some of the technology that people don’t know is out there to be able to assist them.

So this story talks about the telecoil. So a lot of folks may not know what a telecoil is. If you don’t have hearing loss or work with individuals with hearing loss, you’ve probably never heard of it. It sounds like a really old technology maybe like the telegraph, things like that, that maybe aren’t really used. The telecoil is a tiny wire receiver that shows up in some hearing aids, cochlear implants and other things. They’re able to pick up magnetic sound signals from assistive listening systems. So a lot of public spaces and other places might have these assistive listening systems installed. If they’re installed, they’re able to transmit audio directly to the hearing aid via the telecoil. The story I’m referencing here actually tells the story of someone getting new hearing aids and turning on their telecoil for the first time and being able to hear the speaker they were not close to very well.

Being able to hear every word, block out the noise and really get all the information about them. Now we’ve had some folks on here that have talked about AuraCast, which will be coming very soon, which will probably end up replacing this kind of technology just because it’s going to be much easier to gain access to, maybe a little bit easier to install and make available pretty much everywhere. But according to the story here, it says that’s still probably five to 10 years away from being widely available, both in different places as well as in the devices that they actually use. The story goes on to dig in a little bit more about what are telecoils and hearing loops. And it breaks down on where these might be, kind of how they work, a little bit of the history of them and everything else, just to let you know a little bit more about hearing loops, about telecoils, and about how they’re used by individuals who experience hearing loss. It also gets into a little bit of, are telecoil’s going to go away? Is this new technology going to actually change it?

It goes into AuraCast. What is it? How will this make things different and how will this make hearing aids more usable, more user-friendly, and really what kind of a difference will it make on the technology for individuals with hearing loss? So it’s a very in depth, very great article just to learn a little bit more about hearing aids as a whole, and then especially how the telecoil and hearing loops work, what AuraCast is, when it may be coming out, what kind of international standards might be made for it and everything else. Very in depth article to just let you learn a little bit more about some hearing technology that’s been available for quite a while, but a lot of folks probably don’t even know exist. So we’ll put a link to this story over in the show notes and go check it out and learn a little bit more about these amazing devices for yourself. Listeners next up on the show, we’re very excited to welcome back Ale Gonzalez from Bridging Apps with an app worth mentioning.

This is Ala Gonzalez with Bridging Apps, and this is an app worth mentioning. This week’s featured app is called Fable. Fable is a book tracking app that helps users track their reading, set up reading goals, and motivate themselves to read more through daily streaks. Users can create custom lists for what they are reading, visualize their progress to their annual reading goal, track daily progress, set reminders to read, and even use Fable’s custom ebook reader to annotate books. Our favorite features were the reading goal and streak, which can be valuable for anyone. Fable gamifies reading, which can make reading feel fun, rewarding, and less overwhelming for younger readers. It is a great app that is intuitive and easy to use that can boost reading engagement in both teens and adults. Fable is currently available for both Android and iOS devices and is free to download. For more information on this app and others like it, visit www.bridgingapps.org.

Today, listeners, we’re excited to welcome Claudio Hidas from Munevo to the show to tell us all about the Munevo Drive and how it’s offering individuals a whole new way to control their mobility. Claudiu, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much. Thanks, Josh. I’m so happy to be here.

Hey, I am happy to have you on. Before we get into talking about the technology, can you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?

Yeah, sure. So my name is Claudiu. I am originally from Romania, was born in Romania, but grew up in Germany. So we moved to Germany when I was around six, seven years old, and just did my high school there and also then went to university in Munich, Germany in the South, where I graduated with a master’s in computer science and business essentially. So it was a mix of both. And then right after university decided to start Munevo basically.

Awesome. Awesome. Well, you led me right straight into my next question. What is Munevo?

Yeah, so Munevo, it was a university project during our postgraduate program, and we realized there that people with limited hand function were using solutions that were bulky and still really using technology that hasn’t been updated for many, many years. And that was the reason how we came up with the idea and how we also then decided to follow this idea because early on what we did is a design process where we had multiple iterations and we went out and immediately interviewed people in wheelchairs because we didn’t want to build something that was… We build, build, and then in the end it wouldn’t work or they wouldn’t really match the needs of the people that were in need for this. So we went out and had a lot of interviews, a lot of meetings with people in wheelchair and also people from the industry, occupational therapists, ATPs, and got their feedback and realized that there is a need for innovation in this area. And so this is how it all started in the end.

Nice. And then I guess, especially because we’re on an audio podcast, so we got to describe it, can you describe how this control system works?

Yes. So essentially we are using smart glass technology, so you can imagine it as your everyday glasses just equipped with sensors inside. And those sensors are what we then take and measure the head motion. So no matter how you are positioned or in which direction, you need about one to two inches of range of motion in the directions, and the glasses pick those signals up. And then we have a second component that we plug into the wheelchair and it works with every hour wheelchair that exists in this area. And essentially that receives the signals, translates them into wheelchair signals, and you drive the wheelchair by turning your head or tilting your head. So there’s different head motions that can do different things. And the benefit of that is that it actually can be calibrated within seconds by the patient themselves. So you don’t need to wait for somebody to come to reposition you or some technicians to adjust or tighten the screws back up and all these things. It’s all based on a calibration feature that we provide.

Nice. So just to dig into that a little bit right there, so the individual does the calibration on their own, so they independently can calibrate as well as drive their wheelchair.

Correct. So imagine also when you’re starting your day, you’re driving your wheelchair, and essentially you use a lot of pressure to push against the chin joysticks or against the headway pads and so on. And what it means is that at some point during the day, you fatigue. And unfortunately, a lot of the patients that we work with, which are ALS patients, spinal cord patients, and others, they fatigue throughout the day. And then essentially then in the afternoon, it’s really hard for them to drive with their joystick. So with the calibration feature, they can always adjust it whenever they need it and are always remaining mobile in the end.

Nice. Very, very cool. Well, I was going to ask you how setup works, but it sounds like people can do it on their own, but I know folks can do a test drive of the Munevo Drive system. How does that work?

Right. So in order to set up a test drive, we work with around 35 independent sales reps that are spread around the United States. And at the same time, we also work with the big vendors and also regional vendors, but essentially either through your regional vendor or to the independent reps in our network, you can reach out to us to our website and we will put you in touch with the respective individual to set up this test drive. And what the test drive contains is basically we come to your home, we set up the device, which is we plug in the box in, we set you the glasses on and everything else through the calibration is automatic. So it kind of goes really fast.

And one thing to add also is not just for the chair, but actually we have also other features in Build, which is letting you connect to every other device around you. So it can connect also to your phone, to your computer, to your smart home, to a robotic arm, and all of these things are integrated. And what is also really interesting, we just also added some years ago, voice activated navigation. So what you can basically do is you can go from driving to your specific seat function by a voice command versus having to push buttons or switches to reach that setting in multiple ways. Again, thinking about the fatigue aspect and not having to have people fatiguing throughout the day so much.

Nice. And I’m going to dig into all that a little bit more, but just to get on the last part, so I can not just drive my wheelchair, I could also maybe change my seating, my positioning if it needs to recline, if it needs to do those, I could also control those with the glasses.

Yes, 100%, which is very important for allowing pressure relief to avoid any pressure injuries and so on. So that is one of the biggest functions that people that we work with require. So we made it extra easy to reach that setting and you can do it, like I said, through head motions or through voice control. And that voice control is also working offline, so you don’t need internet connection for that. And the glasses also don’t need internet connection for that. Only when you want to get the latest version updated, then also this is done remotely. So you don’t need somebody to come to your home and do something with the glasses. This is all done remotely.

Oh, that’s super cool. And I know Claudiu, when I was looking through the website, I saw something about lifetime support. Can you tell me about that?

Well, essentially we want to be a supporter throughout the whole journey. So we are not just delivering and giving you the solution, and then that’s it, we’re gone. No, we’re actually there along the way, not just from the beginning of the process of creating the right documentations together with the vendors or providing the therapist the right argumentation points and how this is covered through insurance and so on. But even after it’s being delivered and installed, we’re always there and you can always contact us in terms of getting feedback from us or maybe how to set up a feature. And we collect all the time, also feedback from our patients and users as much as we can to always improve the solution. So it’s been so many years when we started in 2018 that over the time there has been so much input that has been integrated in the solution that oftentimes when we come to somebody that hasn’t seen it and they have so many questions, there’s always an answer that we can give because we’ve been in this for so many years and have solved most of the feedback that we got.

Nice. And Claudio, just because you kind of brought me into this, tell me a story or two, I know you’ve got a lot over that amount of time, but is maybe there a story or some customer feedback that really sticks with you that you could share with us?

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So there was a recent travel that I did, it was, I think in New Jersey, a very, very nice lady that was not able to drive her wheelchair because all of the current drive controls just didn’t work for her because sometimes head motions change or her position in the seat were changing, so they didn’t match. And at the same time, she had a communication device and they tried to use also the eyegaze system to drive, which didn’t work also and also was restricted outside to some extent. And so when we went there, we set up the chair and it was a nice morning with some sunshine. So we went outside and she started to drive.

And after three, four turns, when she turned back to us and she was driving by herself already basically, you saw the smile and also the tears flowing. And that’s one of those situations where you really understand why we’re basically doing what we’re doing and it gives you that extra motivation to continue to push for more innovation to come into hands of people and to create that access to these technologies that usually are not developed for people with disabilities, but oftentimes miss that point. So that’s kind of what we are trying also to do at the same time.

No, that’s awesome. And yeah, you’re right, it makes it all worth it. It makes all those probably long nights and things, putting everything together really completely worth it when it can make that big of a difference in someone’s life.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Now I kind of glazed over it just a little bit, but you said I could control other things. Can you dig in a little bit on how that works? Is that in conjunction with the voice controls? Or I guess how am I able to control, say, my robotic arm in my wheelchair? How would I switch back and forth in doing those?

Right. So essentially there’s two ways to navigate the glasses and the glasses have a defined menu, which you can also dynamically adjust for whatever person you have. Also, we have some children with cerebral palsy that we start them by just giving them access to the drive menu and then slowly unlock that to go to the seating menu, to go to the add-ons menu where you’d find your phone control or computer control, and you can swipe through the menu by rotating your head to left and right. It’s like a swipe with your finger, but you essentially do it with your head movement.

So horizontally you rotate your head and you swipe through that menu, and then when you want to select something, you just knock down as if you would say yes, and that’s how you go into that specific menu that you want to choose. So that’s one way, and it’s also for people that don’t have the ability to use the voice control. And then that second option is then you could say, “Okay, Munevo, go to drive,” or, “Okay, Munevo, go to my recline,” or, “Okay, Munevo, start mouse control,” or something like that. So that’s how you could also reach those functions and features that are in that menu structure that you have in the glasses.

Very cool. Very cool. I love the way that it gives you the same controls. It gives you different options, different ways to really use it in any way that you might see fit. I guess I have to ask what’s on the horizon. Not that it doesn’t do enough already, but it sounds like you’re always taking that customer input, you’re always adding some new pieces.What’s coming up or on the horizon?

Well, there’s just so much. We’re looking right now mostly in the whole market of smart glasses. There’s so many things happening. There are so many new glasses coming out into the market. And what our software essentially can do is we can take that software and put them on any of these glasses. But what we need to make sure is, first of all, it’s a medical device, so we need to do extensive, very much extensive testing. And also the performance is really important and battery is really important. So all these things is something that we’re currently testing to see what will be the next generation look like, and that’s on that component side. On the pure software side, what we’re doing right now is always still improving. So one thing that we’re currently working on is voice activated seating, for example.

So not just that you can go from drive to your elevate, let’s say, or recline, but then that also through voice, you can say, elevate myself up, and then it immediately elevates you up instead of having to, which is the current state, hold your head in a position, tilt it, and that’s how you’d elevate or go down or go up. So these are just some examples. And we also just recently got another patent approved. And I can only say so much that there’s also a lot of technology coming from brain computer interfaces where with the power of your thoughts, you can control things. And all these things are in a siloed way, but we think that the future will be more redundant or more modular. So that at whatever point in time, you’ll have access to many different sensor streams, be it a head control, be it a eyegaze control or a brain computer interface. And that’s, I think, where the future will go through.

No, and especially with something as important as mobility, it’s great to have those redundancies because yeah if something maybe isn’t working as good that day, or I don’t have the motion in my neck that day, it’s great to have some other way to do it or things lose charge, things become disconnected, things happen. Technology’s going to give you issue. So yeah, the more access methods you can have and the more different ways to do it at a time would definitely be amazing. And good job not completely telling us what’s coming down the pike, but we’re pretty excited, but excited anyway. How would I be able to get this kind of device funded?

All right. And so the way that reimbursement works in the United States right now is that we have essentially a CMS-approved HCPC code, as you call them. It’s the same code that the header is using, and that has been approved since April 2025, and that covers the basic functionality of Munevo Drive as driving the wheelchair as a drive control. And on top of that, we’re still discussing currently with CMS and PDAC around what other codes can be used in conjunction as there is other features that are very unique and are not covered under the definition of a head array code.

Claudio, our listeners want to find out more. What’s a good way for them to do that?

So mostly you can get in touch and read more about our technology at our website. So it’s us.munevo.com. And at the same time, follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, all the social media that you usually know probably you’ll find us there. And as soon as you want to really trial it, please just go to our website and follow the contact form and it will guide you to a very short form where you just set up a meeting or get in touch with us.

Awesome. We’ll put all those links down in the show notes so that folks can easily find it and learn more. Well, Claudiu, thank you so much for coming on today for telling us about Munevo, just the different ways that individuals are able to access the world around them and be able to control their devices, their wheelchair, and be able to really just be more mobile in the ways that they see fit. So awesome, awesome stuff. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Josh. It was a really pleasure.

Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on an assistive technology update? If so, call our listener line at 317-721-7124. Send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org or shoot us a note on Twitter @INDATAproject. Our captions and transcripts for the show are sponsored by the Indiana Telephone Relay Access Corporation or inTRAC. You can find out more about inTRAC at relayindiana.com. A special thanks to Nicole Prieto for scheduling our amazing guests and making a mess of my schedule. Today’s show was produced, edited, hosted, and fraught over by yours truly. The opinions expressed by our guests are their own and may or may not reflect those of the INDATA Project, Easterseals Crossroads, our supporting partners or this host. This was your assistive technology update. I’m Josh Anderson with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. We look forward to seeing you next time. Bye-bye.