Deaf-Owned Apps and Companies We Love

A feature roundup of real Deaf-owned and Deaf-founded accessibility companies, including Convo, RogerVoice, Ava, and Signvrse.

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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the employment rate for Deaf and hard of hearing adults still lags meaningfully behind that of hearing adults, and against that backdrop, the handful of genuinely Deaf-owned and Deaf-founded technology companies covered on this site represent something worth celebrating specifically, not just reviewing. At Inclusive Info Hub, we wanted a dedicated space to name these founders directly, since ownership and lived experience shape a product in ways a corporate accessibility initiative simply cannot replicate.

Convo Communications: The Only Deaf-Owned VRS Provider

Covered in depth in our VRS comparison, Convo Communications, based in Austin, Texas, remains privately held and Deaf-owned, a distinction the company itself centers directly in its own marketing: "the only Deaf-owned Video Relay Service provider." That ownership shapes real product decisions, from interpreter quality standards to a stated philosophy that users should always maintain ownership of their own call.

RogerVoice: Built by a Man Who Has Been Deaf Since Age Two

Olivier Jeannel founded RogerVoice in 2014 specifically because he grew up experiencing how isolating phone calls could be when audio was the only option, building the app to make phone conversations accessible without requiring an interpreter or relay operator on a private call. By April 2026, RogerVoice had crossed 10 million captioned calls across more than 100 languages, a milestone built on one deaf founder's refusal to accept that phone calls were simply not for him.

Ava: Founded by a Deaf Co-Founder and His CODA Business Partner

Ava was started by Thibault Duchemin, the only hearing child in his Deaf family, alongside Skinner, who has been Deaf since age two, and advocate Pieter Roelofsen, building live captioning technology specifically to break down communication barriers in group conversations, a genuinely different challenge than one-on-one phone calls.

Signvrse: A Kenyan Startup Bringing AI Sign Language Translation to Africa

Founded in 2023 by Elly Savatia and based in Nairobi, Signvrse builds Terp 360, a real-time sign language translation platform using AI-powered 3D avatars to interpret speech and text into sign language, developed specifically for African deaf communities that most Western accessibility technology overlooks entirely. It represents a genuinely different geographic origin point than most companies covered on this site, and one worth watching as it grows.

Why Ownership and Lived Experience Matter Here

A company built by someone who has personally lived with deafness tends to make different product decisions than one built by an outside team designing for a population they have researched but not experienced directly. Olivier Jeannel building Alan the practice bot into RogerVoice specifically because he understood the anxiety of a first captioned call, or Convo centering call ownership as a stated value, are the kinds of details that come from lived understanding rather than a feature request in a design meeting.

Honest Limitations

Not every strong accessibility app is Deaf-owned, and this list should not be read as implying non-Deaf-founded companies build inferior products. Seeing AI, Microsoft Copilot, and several other tools covered on this site are built by companies without disabled founders and remain genuinely excellent.

Deaf ownership is not always publicly disclosed or easy to verify, and we have limited this list specifically to companies where founder identity and ownership structure is clearly documented, rather than guessing based on assumption.

Geographic reach varies significantly between these companies, with Convo and RogerVoice serving established Tier 1 markets while Signvrse remains earlier stage and Africa-focused, meaning availability and maturity differ meaningfully across this list.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does it mean for a company to be Deaf-owned? It means the company's ownership, and often its founding leadership, includes people who are Deaf or hard of hearing themselves, rather than being entirely designed and led by hearing individuals.

Is Convo really the only Deaf-owned VRS provider? According to the company's own stated positioning, yes, among the major US VRS providers covered in our VRS comparison.

Who founded RogerVoice? Olivier Jeannel, who has been Deaf since age two, founded RogerVoice in France in 2014.

What makes Ava's founding story unique? It was co-founded by both a Deaf founder, Skinner, and a CODA, Thibault Duchemin, the only hearing child in his Deaf family, combining both perspectives directly into the company's leadership.

What is Signvrse? A Kenyan startup founded in 2023 by Elly Savatia, building AI-powered sign language translation technology specifically for African Deaf communities.

Are there Deaf-owned accessibility companies for other disability categories, not just hearing? This particular list focuses on hearing-related technology specifically, though Deaf and disabled founders exist across every category covered on this site, and we would welcome hearing from readers about additional examples we should cover.

Closing Thought

Every company on this list exists because someone who personally understood a specific communication barrier refused to wait for someone else to solve it. That is worth naming clearly and celebrating directly, not folded quietly into a features list alongside everything else.