If you want to caption a presentation for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, you typically have to do it yourself. Google might just save you that trouble -- it's launching an automatic closed captioning feature for Slides. Plug a microphone int...
Back in 2015, Uber added some features for drivers who were deaf and hard of hearing, including visual notifications of impending rides. Today, as a wrap-up for National Deaf Awareness Month, Uber has updated its main app to teach riders how to sign...
Today, Lyft announced a few new features for its driver support app that are meant to make the process of getting help simpler and easier to navigate. First, the Lyft Driver app will now include a button that will allow drivers to quickly connect wit...
Back in April, Lyft launched features that made its system easier to use by deaf drivers and those who are hard of hearing. Now, it's adding a couple more to celebrate National Deaf Awareness Month. Thanks to its partnership with the National Associa...
Accessibility isn't just for those with a disability; inclusion benefits all of us. Adding a visual notification to an auditory one hurts nobody, and it allows people with a hearing impairment to participate in normal activities -- like driving for a...
YouTube has used algorithms to automatically caption speech for eight years now in an effort to make its billions of videos more accessible for the deaf and hard of hearing. While the feature was pretty rough at first, it has significantly improved i...
The question was asked by some very wise scientist. Were there other ways to experience sound besides through the eardrums? Well, apparently the skin happens to play a similar role. A half a decade...
The FCC's iCanConnect program, which provides communication equipment to low-income deaf and blind Americans, is now permanent after four years in pilot form. Known formally as the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program, it offers $10 mil...
Last year we featured Captioning on Glass, an application that uses Google Glass and an Android device to translate speech to text in real time. Now a group of teenagers claim they can provide us with a device that has the same capabilities.
Frants Innovators’Live Time Closed Captioning System (LTCCS) is an augmented reality system powered by the Raspberry Pi. Its display is designed to be mounted on eyeglasses, while the Pi and the rest of the components are in a pocketable case.
The company claims that they’ve already made the display and that their software works, but they’re still refining their system: “What we still have to do is perfect it. Ideally, we want to make a system that works in any situation. Obviously making it work in absolutely any situation is impossible, but what is possible is making it work well enough that you never encounter the situation in which it doesn’t.”
You can pledge at least $650 (USD) on Indiegogo to receive an LTCCS as a reward, though I suggest you wait until Frants Innovators can present more concrete proof of their product.
Earlier this year we saw a project where Google Glass was used to project an interpreter for deaf students. A team of researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have come up with a more immediate solution for people that are hard of hearing. Using an Android app, the researchers’ software sends a text translation of speech in real time.
Called Captioning on Glass, the Glass app receives text via Bluetooth from a companion Android app, which uses the Android translation API to convert speech. Even though Glass already has a microphone, the researchers chose to include an Android device in the process because it makes it easier for the person speaking to figure out where to talk. The noise reduction on most smartphones helps with the conversion as well.
Google Glass owners can download Captioning on Glass here. The researchers are also planning on making a similar app but for translating from one language to another. Perhaps they can get in touch with Will Powell, who already did just that with his DIY augmented reality glasses two years ago.
If you want to caption a presentation for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, you typically have to do it yourself. Google might just save you that trouble -- it's launching an automatic closed captioning feature for Slides. Plug a microphone int...
Back in 2015, Uber added some features for drivers who were deaf and hard of hearing, including visual notifications of impending rides. Today, as a wrap-up for National Deaf Awareness Month, Uber has updated its main app to teach riders how to sign...
Today, Lyft announced a few new features for its driver support app that are meant to make the process of getting help simpler and easier to navigate. First, the Lyft Driver app will now include a button that will allow drivers to quickly connect wit...
Back in April, Lyft launched features that made its system easier to use by deaf drivers and those who are hard of hearing. Now, it's adding a couple more to celebrate National Deaf Awareness Month. Thanks to its partnership with the National Associa...
Accessibility isn't just for those with a disability; inclusion benefits all of us. Adding a visual notification to an auditory one hurts nobody, and it allows people with a hearing impairment to participate in normal activities -- like driving for a...
YouTube has used algorithms to automatically caption speech for eight years now in an effort to make its billions of videos more accessible for the deaf and hard of hearing. While the feature was pretty rough at first, it has significantly improved i...
The FCC's iCanConnect program, which provides communication equipment to low-income deaf and blind Americans, is now permanent after four years in pilot form. Known formally as the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program, it offers $10 mil...
