This guest post was written by Madhav Lavakare. Madhav is a young entrepreneur from New Delhi, India. He was passionate about tinkering, creating and innovating from a young age and has a keen eye for problem solving. With TranscribeGlass, he wants to solve the biggest problem he has tackled so far: bridging the communication gap between the D / Deaf and the hard of hearing community and mainstream society.
TranscribeGlass is an affordable, wearable device for people such as the deaf, hard of hearing (HoH) and the elderly who want to read subtitles and conversations while watching the speaker to improve their understanding of what is being said. TranscribeGlass displays subtitles from a source on a comfortable heads-up display in the user’s field of vision in near real-time, allowing the wearer to read the subtitles while looking at the speaker. Subtitle sources include Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Subtitles (CART / Shorthand), and Subtitle files.
The user starts the TranscribeGlass mobile app and connects to their preferred subtitle source (e.g. Google’s voice-text API or a portal that streams subtitles in real time). The subtitles received from the source are displayed in the mobile app and also transmitted to the TranscribeGlass heads-up display via Bluetooth.
TranscribeGlass can be retrofitted to most eyeglass frames so that users can use the device as a hardware add-on / accessory.
For the past 4 years I have worked obsessively designing and programming the product and working with Deaf / HoH organizations to test it out with real users. I built 4 proof-of-concept prototypes, filed a patent for the device, and successfully ran an early crowdfunding campaign. I have done validation / feedback tests with over 150 d / Deaf / HoH people in India and have the device at the National Association of the Deaf in India and USA, Gallaudet University, MIT, several organizations for DHH and d / Deaf demonstrated in India and conducted detailed interviews with potential early customers. I’ve also received feedback from other stakeholders, including closed captioning service providers, closed captioning streaming platforms, business accessibility leaders, universities, entertainment venues such as movie theaters and theaters. The feedback so far has been very encouraging, and I’ve been able to build a small team and collect grants.
We are now planning to launch an early version of the product (TranscribeGlass Beta) in the fall of 2021. We are taking reservations from early users on our website (www.transcribeglass.com/reserve.html) and will ship devices to the first 100 people who sign up to purchase the beta!
Please contact me if you would like to learn more about TranscribeGlass and follow us on social media to keep up to date with updates (@TranscribeGlass on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook!).
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