Augmented reality glasses embed captions into real-time conversations

Augmented reality glasses manufacturer Nreal announces new product XRAI glassesa an augmented reality (AR) device that can caption conversations in real time. The innovation was created by expert Dan Scarfe while researching ways to allow deaf people to participate in traditional conversations.

The idea for the glasses came about when Scarfe realized that his deaf grandfather had trouble maintaining conversations with other people in his family. Realizing the problem, XRAI’s founder started working to find a solution for both his relatives and others with partial and complete hearing loss.

The company’s goal is to start making XRAI glasses available to consumers from September 2022, but they have yet to confirm a firm release date. Scarfe says the news is just the beginning of an innovative future.

“To prove it, to get feedback, to understand what people like and dislike, and to innovate quickly, let’s start with a small number. And hopefully, if the winds are behind us, we’ll be generally available in September,” Scarfe told the site. European News.

Augmented reality and subtitles

According to Scarfe, his grandfather’s communication problem was so great that he sometimes seemed to stop trying to engage in conversations and just sit there quietly.

“It has now gotten to the point where it literally sits silently. And I thought, well, wait a second. He watches TV with subtitles all the time. Why can’t we subtitle the world?” said the creator of the glasses.

XRAI does not work as a standalone device: it must be plugged into a smartphone to receive audio feed from the microphone. Basically, the glasses capture the ambient sound and automatically provide subtitles on the glasses screen – in this case, the smartphone is used to convert the audio to subtitles via the Nreal software.

For now, a quiet environment is required for the glasses to work properly and use a transcription service based on the Alexa virtual assistant system. Organizations targeting deaf people, such as the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) and DeafKidz, claim XRAI is a game-changer in this area.