Wearables

Voicee glasses are the latest to offer captioning to deaf wearers

Voicee glasses are the latest to offer captioning to deaf wearers
The Voicee glasses are presently on Indiegogo
The Voicee glasses are presently on Indiegogo
View 3 Images
The Voicee glasses are presently on Indiegogo
1/3
The Voicee glasses are presently on Indiegogo
Voicee glasses are said to work with the world's five most widely spoken languages
2/3
Voicee glasses are said to work with the world's five most widely spoken languages
One charge of the Voicee glasses' battery should reportedly be good for over 24 hours of use
3/3
One charge of the Voicee glasses' battery should reportedly be good for over 24 hours of use
View gallery - 3 images

We've already seen camera-equipped glasses that tell blind wearers what they're looking at. Well, Voicee is a bit different, in that it's a microphone-equipped set of glasses which display the text of what other people are saying.

Currently the subject of an Indiegogo campaign, the Slovenian-designed glasses are claimed to presently be in functioning prototype form.

Along with the noise-cancelling mic in front, they also incorporate a Google Glass-like projected display on the inside of one lens, an Android-based microprocessor, a touchpad for controlling their functions, and of course a lithium-polymer battery. They come with clear lenses by default, although they can be fitted with prescription lenses.

Voicee glasses are said to work with the world's five most widely spoken languages
Voicee glasses are said to work with the world's five most widely spoken languages

According to the designers, the Voicee technology is capable of picking up the speech of another person who is conversing with the wearer, and displaying their words as near-real-time text captions within the glasses.

The eyewear works without any other supporting devices, can be set to one of five languages (so far), and is said to tip the scales at less than 100 grams (3.5 oz). One charge of the battery should reportedly be good for over 24 hours of use.

Not surprisingly, the Voicee company isn't the first to have announced such a product.

Others have included the add-on LTCCS augmented reality display, which failed to meet its crowdfunding goal; TranscribeGlass, which is presently in development; and an app that was offered by Google Glass, although it required the speaker to be talking into a paired Android smartphone.

Should you be interested in getting a pair of Voicee glasses for yourself – bearing in mind that they're still not a finished commercial product – a pledge of €512 (about US$540) is required. Assuming they reach production, they should retail for €650 ($675).

Sources: Indiegogo, Voicee

View gallery - 3 images
4 comments
4 comments
dave be
lol try out any voice to text software .. its still not up to this task as an everyday utility beyond very terse answers and clearly spoken short phrases.
noteugene
Crazy to spend that kind of money when I can just use my cell phone to do the same thing. But appreciate the effort.
freddotu
It's unfortunate that something that might help so many people has to be initiated via Kickstarter. Too many KS campaigns end with zero items awarded to the contributors, without recourse or recovery and no penalty to the project creators.
Aermaco
Any added information to silence is a HUGE plus,, sign & lip reading are much less accessible when you consider the deaf may need to hear from anyone.