By Ashwini Sakharkar 9 Nov, 2024
Collected at: https://www.techexplorist.com/aircaps-smart-glasses-provide-deaf-wearers-real-time-captioning/92095/
Noisy environments can be incredibly challenging for deaf individuals, especially when trying to understand a specific person speaking in such settings. AirCaps glasses aim to assist by offering real-time captions for the user.
Developed by Nirbhay Narang, a creative computer science student from Cornell University, this innovative technology is being brought to life through his spinoff company, AirCaps. Designed to resemble traditional thick-framed eyeglasses, these smart glasses connect via Bluetooth to an app on the user’s iPhone, with an Android version currently in development.
When the microphone on the phone captures the voice of a selected individual nearby, an AI-driven speech-to-text algorithm transforms their words into text, which is then sent back to the glasses. This text is displayed on the interior of the lenses for the wearer to read. Additionally, the text appears on the phone’s screen as a backup, ensuring that communication remains smooth and accessible in any environment.
The company created the software and app that make the connection seamless. According to the company, the app currently recognizes multiple languages, including English, Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, German, and Portuguese, making communication effortless. Users can manually add technical terms, slang, or any other words that the app’s vocabulary does not currently include. The AirCaps glasses are presently available only to customers in the US through the company’s website.
They are being offered at a promotional price of $699, which reflects a $100 discount from the intended retail price. Prescription lenses are available for an additional $150.
“For many people, hearing aids are imperfect and too expensive, and they aren’t able to process the sounds you want to hear and leave out background noise,” Narang said.
“This is a really innovative technology with many potential applications,” said Tapan Parikh, associate professor at Cornell Tech and in the information science department at Cornell. “And Nirbhay has been resourceful in finding external collaborators both within and beyond Cornell.”
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