This Google Glass app provides closed captioning for the hearing impaired

Shawn Knight

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For all of the criticism and backlash Google Glass has generated in regards to privacy, there are some genuine benefits that the headset brings to the table. One good example of this is a new app for the wearable called Captioning on Glass.

Developed by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the app is able to convert spoken words into text that is shown on the unit’s display in near real-time. That may not sound all that useful but for someone with a hearing impairment, it could be immensely useful.

School of Interactive Computing Professor Jim Foley said it allows wearers like him to focus on the speaker’s lips and facial gestures. If hard-of-hearing people understand the speech, the conversation can continue immediately without waiting for the caption. However, if I miss a word, Foley said he can glance at the transcription, get the word or two that is needed and get back into the conversation.

As one of Foley’s colleagues and technical lead on the project, Thad Starner, points out, Glass has its own microphone but it is designed for the wearer.

For that reason, the app has been designed to work with an Android smartphone so it can utilize the phone’s microphone. The person with the hearing impairment wears Glass while the other person speaks directly into the smartphone. The speech gets converted into text and shown on the Glass display.

Having to use a smartphone with the app means it won’t exactly be ideal for talking with strangers but as the researchers point out, it was designed to be used among friends, trusted acquaintances or while making purchases.

The app is currently being prepped for public use although no ETA was given.

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Those glasses still look super ridiculous to me, if I was hearing impaired I'd use the good old fashioned in ear hearing aid instead.
 
All digital-equipped cinemas have subtitle/caption facilities built-in. They just need an end-user solution like this to provide subtitles to people with hearing loss. Instead of projecting subtitles/captions on to the cinema screen, for all to see, and irritate, solutions like this can display 'personal' subtitles, that only the glasses-wearer can see. Maybe for audience members with hearing loss, the convenience of an inclusive, 'personal' solution, and the vastly increased choice it can offer, would be more favourable than segregated, inconvenient, separate captioned shows. A 'personal' cinema access solution could enable cinemas to offer 100% access to people with hearing loss. But only if film distributors provide 100% subtitled content. Currently they don't. Ideally, people with hearing loss would be offered the same choice of cinema releases as everyone else. Ideally all cinemas AND films would be accessible. Ubiquitous. People expect shops, restaurants, car parks, cinemas etc. to be accessible to disabled people. Ramps, wheelchair spaces, toilets, loop systems and elevators enable people who need a little assistance to enjoy services. Films at cinemas should be accessible too. People with hearing loss are used to having subtitles/captions on other film platforms - TV, DVD, Blu-Ray, online Netflix, iPlayer etc. With ageing, loss of some hearing or sight is inevitable. Access to film via captions/subtitles is something that we may all appreciate eventually. The audience for captioned/subtitled shows is not a huge one, in the scheme of things, but it's a paying audience nonetheless, and its members expect and deserve to be treat as equals.
 
If apple can integrate Siri or some type of real time captioning with FaceTime, that would be a wonderful thing.
 
Never call a deaf person 'hearing-impaired'. It's highly offensive.
 
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