LetterKey

The Problem

Government letters are lengthy, technical and written in formal English. Singaporean seniors aged 55-65 have literacy skills significantly below the average of seniors in 31 other countries (OECD, 2023), with the gap widening as they age. This literacy barrier forces seniors to rely heavily on social support services, straining the system (CNA, 2025).

AAC with Seniors

Francis, the manager of Fei Yue Community Services, estimates that 70% of 1,400 seniors at the Senja Active Ageing Centre (AAC) need such assistance. Some common government letters include CPF documents, IRAS and HDB letters. These daily help requests peak after exercise sessions, with each case taking 45 minutes to 2 hours, consuming nearly 20% of staff work hours. Most requests go beyond translating the documents and involve follow-ups like explaining the complex information in simpler terms or referring them to other agencies for necessary actions. With only 5 full-time staffs serving seniors of various races speaking different languages (e.g. Malay, Tamil) and dialects (e.g. Cantonese, Hokkien), the language barrier sometimes prevents staffs from helping.

Our interview with the seniors reveal that they prefer seeking help at the centre rather than burdening their family members. A secure, reliable solution is needed to help seniors understand critical written information independently, enabling them to complete essential tasks confidently while allowing Fei Yue staffs to focus on other services.

Our Solution

LetterKey is an app designed to help seniors understand complex letters - easily and independently. 

LetterKey platform - main feature

Steps to use LetterKey as below : 

1. Seniors first select their preferred language from six options: Mandarin, Malay, Tamil, English, Cantonese, and Hokkien. 

2. Using OCR and LLM technology, LetterKey will scan and recognise the text in the letter. 

3. The app processes the lengthy content into bite-sized summaries delivered in their chosen language. All content can be read on screen or played as audio. 

4. Seniors can also choose to send the audio file to their WhatsApp number so they can listen to the audio again at their own convenience. 

LettKey platform - WhatsApp

LetterKey prioritises user privacy. The app does not store any personally identifiable information from scanned documents. All data is anonymised and de-identified throughout the process.

A Self-Service Kiosk with LetterKey
During our interviews with seniors and staffs, we learned that technology adoption remains a significant challenge for seniors, with many struggling to use basic smartphone functions. Therefore, we set up a self-service kiosk at the AAC's front desk for seniors to access LetterKey easily and allow staffs to provide guidance to new users. 

Place on Tray

The kiosk include : 

• An existing touchscreen monitor and tablet that belong to the centre which seniors already use for attendance and activity bookings, to launch LetterKey. 

• A paper tray to ensure that the letter is always aligned and positioned accurately for LetterKey to scan.

• A webcam and light source are recommended for clear document capture. 

• A pair of wired headphones to help seniors focus on the audio output despite the noisy background noise and protect their privacy.

User Testing

User testing

The time taken to help one senior in letter reading is reduced from 2 hours to 1.5 hours during our user testing with 4 seniors, with staff guidance to use the app. By saving 30 minutes on each case, LetterKey can save up to 5 hours of manpower per day for Senja AAC.

Our user testing also revealed that seniors prefer to listen to the content via audio playback. 3 out of 4 seniors rated 5/5 for LetterKey and will use the app for their needs for letter reading in the future.

Our Targeted Impact
Aside from reducing the time needed for each help request, we aim to use LetterKey to reduce senior dependency from 70% to 50%, meaning only 1 in 2 seniors will need staff help for their letters. This will save 350 staff hours - nearly 2 weeks per staff - that can be redirected to other services at Senja AAC.

Meet the team

Team LetterKey

Team members:

• Li Hui Cham - Product Manager

• Owen Gan - UI/UX Designer

• Felicia Hwang - Software Engineer

• Brian Chew - Software Engineer

• Loo Ping Wee -Software Engineer

Supported by Zhenghua CIT