Mabel -- An AI-based privacy-conscious translation and interpretation solution for healthcare

The Problem

Mabel AI offers an AI-based solution to the problem of language barriers in healthcare. In emergencies, communication makes the difference between life and death. In a cardiac arrest situation, every minute of waiting for an interpreter’s instructions on how to resuscitate reduces the chances of survival by 10%. In reality, the interpreter can rarely be located so quickly.

Language barriers are a major obstacle to national and international sustainability goals for public health, health equality and integration, and strain health care services and finances severely. Over one billion SEK are spent on interpretation by Swedish regions and municipalities yearly, mostly in healthcare -- not including larger hidden costs of unnecessary complications, visits, tests, and caregiver workload that occur due to miscommunication.

Still, only a small minority (<5%) of interpretations in healthcare are done by authorised medical interpreters. Consequently, most interpreters do not have adequate training in either medical interpretations or the principles of confidentiality. This situation presents a barrier to contact with healthcare and other public services, particularly for vulnerable groups, or sensitive issues like mental problems or domestic violence. Addressing this problem is therefore a prerequisite for health equality and successful integration.

Our solution

Mabel AI has developed a ground-breaking solution that enables instant communication between patient and health care provider, while safe-guarding confidentiality by performing all AI operations inside the mobile device. No data leaves the phone, or the room, except possible transfer of information to the patient records through secure channels. This makes our innovation the most secure transcription and translation solution in the world.

As it works in fully offline mode, it is accessible anytime and anywhere. Utilising the computing power of the mobile device for the AI operations also saves considerable energy compared to traditional high-power backend servers, providing a proof-of-concept for more environment-friendly digital solutions. Our innovation is available for physical and digital consultations, as an App (iOS, Android) and an API. The API, available through Mabel Language Platform, offers speech recognition, translation and speech synthesis services. The platform is available as a Mabel-managed service or as a customer-hosted service running inside a customer's firewall. It can be integrated to video and audio communication platforms of the online healthcare providers.

Language barriers are a global challenge. Recently, the number of refugees in the world surpassed 100 million. Our neighbouring countries, such as Poland, have recently received millions of refugees from Ukraine. The first version of our app includes the Ukrainian language, in order to help health care services all over Europe provide the best medical care to Ukrainian victims and refugees.