AI smart glasses let deaf people 'see and rewind conversations'

Record ID: 1698253

  • Title: AI smart glasses let deaf people 'see and rewind conversations'
  • Date: 18th November 2022
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (NOVEMBER 16, 2022) (Reuters) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MITCHELL FELDMAN, CO-FOUNDER, XRAI, SAYING: “Imagine Alexa for your eyes but the difference is that the information that it’s retrieving, the questions that you're asking of the data, are your own conversations. For example, ‘Hey XRAI, remind me what my wife told me to buy from the shops yesterda
  • Embargoed: 2nd December 2022 09:55
  • Keywords: Captions Subtitles XRAI Glass live translation smartphone app
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK / HURRICANE, UTAH & SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA, USA / VARIOUS UNKNOWN LOCATIONS
  • City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK / HURRICANE, UTAH & SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA, USA / VARIOUS UNKNOWN LOCATIONS
  • Country: UK
  • Topics: Europe,Information Technologies / Computer Sciences,Science
  • Reuters ID: LVA009028117112022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: New AI-powered smart glasses give deaf or hard-of-hearing people a heads-up display of live, real-time subtitles of their conversation, right in front of their eyes and let them rewind the chat, to read it again.
    The technology, called XRAI Glass, uses off-the-shelf augmented reality ‘AR’ glasses that are tethered to a smartphone app with AI driven software that gives the user a new kind of personal assistant, one that remembers what you have forgotten.
    “Imagine Alexa for your eyes,” Mitchell Feldman, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer for XRAI, told Reuters.
    “For example, ‘Hey XRAI, remind me what my wife told me to buy from the shops yesterday," he said.
    The technology was invented for deaf people, inspired by co-founder Dan Scarfe’s 97 year old grandfather’s hearing loss and his subsequent difficulty joining in at family gatherings, although it now has potential uses for anyone.
    “Where his grandfather became most alive, was watching television and using subtitles,” Feldman said.
    “If he's enjoying subtitles, why can we not subtitle his life? And that was the genesis of how this product started,” he said.
    The app also now boasts the ability to translate nine different languages in near-real time, with more coming in the next few months.
    The 'AI assistant' uses deep learning technology, including Large Learning Models (LLMs), to answer even the most complex questions.
    “We've just opened Pandora's box,” Feldman said.
    “We're just starting to understand the power of this and how this will fit into society.”
    One of those impressed by XRAI is Justin Osmond, who was diagnosed at the age of two with severe hearing loss. Osmond, son of Merrill Osmond of the U.S. pop group The Osmonds, was amazed by a conversation with his wife while using the glasses: "What’s amazing is not only can I follow everything that she’s saying, even if I’m not looking up at her, if I have to look down or look elsewhere, it’s all right there in front of me."
    Similarly, Tasha Ghouri, who became reality show Love Island’s first ever deaf contestant in 2022, was brought to tears by the experience of seeing speech translated to text in real-time. Ghouri was born deaf and had a cochlear implant aged five.
    XRAI says the app is currently compatible with the Nreal Air Augmented Reality glasses but they hope to work with all AR and XR glass makers in future.
    The basic live caption app is free to download with the assistant and translation services paid for by subscription.
    (Production: Stuart McDill/Matt Stock)
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