"Affordable, comfortable heads up display that shows closed captions from any source in your field of vision." — that is how TranscribeGlass is advertised on its website.

The augmented reality (AR) device, which is paired with the user's transcription software of choice, attaches to the wearer's glasses and displays near real-time captions in front of his or her eyes, according to Stanford University's student-run newspaper, The Stanford Daily.

How it works

Tom Pritsky, CEO and co-founder of TranscribeGlass, demonstrated how the glasses work on TikTok.

@transcribeglass At TranscribeGlass we’re building the world’s first all-day wearable subtitles. Here’s our CEO Tom demonstrating what it would look like to use TranscribeGlass! #foryou #fyp #ai #hearing #assistivetech #accessibility ♬ original sound - transcribe

The device was placed in front of the camera filming the TikTok video.

Pritsky, facing the camera, started talking about how the device works.

"Using our device, you can actually see captions for everything I say in your field of view in real time while also getting a good sense of my lips, my environment, and everything around me," he said, as the device transcribed what he said.

Experience inspired device creation

TranscribeGlass was developed by Tom Pritsky and Madhav Lavakare, both of whom are still students.

Pritsky, who has had bilateral hearing loss since the age of three and uses hearing aids and lip reading to communicate, said he has long imagined the possibility of a real time captioning device.

"I really like captions for movies," he said to The Stanford Daily. "I thought it would be fantastic to have them for real life."

According to Lavakare, hearing aids are expensive for many people, making accessibility an issue. He had witnessed first-hand a deaf friend dropping out of high school because of this.

The experience inspired him to create a device to let his friend participate in conversations in a mainstream setting.

Expected to launch in winter 2023

TranscribeGlass lets users choose an external captioning service which will be projected in their field of view through Bluetooth using augmented reality.

According to the company's website, the position of the caption can be adjusted to suit the users' preferences.

They can also change the captions' font size.

Wearers can also choose their choice of language, presumably with their transcribing software of choice.

According to The Stanford Daily, TranscribeGlass is expected to cost U$95 (S$126).

The company started manufacturing its first 150 preorders sometime in February and is expected to make its official launch in winter 2023.

Top image via transcribeglass/TikTok and transcribeglass.com.