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Has anyone had some recent experiences with smart glasses that can transcribe spoken conversation and display in glasses?

I am very good at speaking foreign languages but not so good at understanding them. I don’t need a lot of help but would like at least a few words of spoken French or Spanish transcribed (it doesn’t need to be translated and would actually prefer it were not) and displayed in glasses so I can figure out what my conversation partner is saying.

I find phone based transcription apps to be awkward to use and the microphone too far from most people to get a good transcription. I think I really need glasses with their own intelligent, telescoping microphones to get good transcription.

I realize we are probably still in first gen of this type of solution but am curious to understand everyone’s experiences. Thanks!

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@mdboy said:

I am very good at speaking foreign languages but not so good at understanding them

LOL! I agree. I can READ Spanish and speak it a bit (conjugating verbs is a challenge), but when it’s responded to rapid-fire with colloquialisms and slang … well, I’m FUDDLED.

Sorry I haven’t used any kind of “smart” glasses, and frankly, I wonder how many words/lines of text they’d display, cuz I need time to READ and process the text, so I’d probably be a bit stressed even going this route.

Didn’t you just get the Phonak Sphere? I find that with my Lumity Life aids, I really CAN hear what’s being said (at least in plain English), so I mostly just lean into it and have confidence that my aids are doing what they need to do.

I have Oticon Reals and I really like them. They work beautifully with English conversation. I just need a bit more help with foreign languages – the rough equivalent of using closed caption transcriptions when I’m on Skype call (and the conversation is in French or Spanish) where my brain is able to pick out spoken words and combine with a few of the transcribed words to gain comprehension.

I realize it’s probably very early for a Smart Glasses solution but I do see some pretty dramatic claims from Xanderglasses and a few other companies. Just curious if anyone had used them. Thanks!

Edited
@mdboy said:

Has anyone had some recent experiences with smart glasses that can transcribe spoken conversation and display in glasses?

@mdboy
There are already several topics on this item in this forum.

I just got my new Even Realities G1 glasses today. They are available now since a few days. And you can also have them with visual correction to extra cost.
It does capture speech and also can translate instandly from many languages.
What I specialy like about these glasses is that they are not ment for gaming nor filming. In Europe the ones with camera at least in the Netherlands are forbidden because of privacy.
So they are lightweight and have long lasting capacity.
You have to use them with a phone app on Android or Ios.
They can also send you messages from your phone.
Other brands like Apple and Meta are more for , although these ones have optional AI service also. But they do not project your PC or other for me not usable stuff.
There is very much on the market at the moment. The G1 is the only one that offers visual correction of the glasses. And the glasses are the best there is on the market. For instance much better than RayBan although that’s a famous sunglasses name.
By the way you can buy even a sunglasses clip opptional which is nice in suny weather.

20240914_145420

Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fo3wnsqvXw45

Thank you. Your response is very helpful.

Could I ask a couple of questions about the transcription capabilities please?

Overall, how well would you say the glasses are able to transcribe (not translate) different languages? Do you need to be very close to the speaker in a quiet environment for transcription to function? Or are the microphones smart enough to pick out and transcribe key words even in an environment that has some ambient noise?

Also, I can see the glasses have their own microphones which are used to pick up speech and transcribe it. This is a huge improvement over using a phone’s microphones for transcription. Do you know if the glasses have their own transcription software included in the glasses themselves or whether there needs to be a connection to the iphone / Android for transcription and translation services? Needing the phone connection doesn’t seem like a huge problem but it does introduce another bluetooth connection and presumably introduce some latency.

Thanks so very much.

@mdboy said:

Could I ask a couple of questions about the transcription capabilities please?

@mdboy
Maybe I can advice you to have a look at this YouTube video as it explains more then one of your questions. It’s a bit of advertising but has also good points from an early user who explains the pro and cons and evaluates the functionality in a trip to China as native English speaker.

The problem of speech in noise is now not only in HA’s but also in glasses, as otherwise you wouldn’t need your aids anymore.
https://youtu.be/lMX7Y-TrPLE?si=GHlMAulAnTo3t0lj33 but in a normal situation they do their job, although I did not try them out for other languages yet.

Big surprise for me as first my delivery was delayed and after that unfortunately I have to send my glasses back already as the opticien did measurements and concluded that there was a prescription in my glasses. So I packed them to return after a short time today already. Had some treble seeing well! I even didn’t pay for the subscription, as this costs a lot extra, and received them in a sealed and closed package as having no prescription!
Makes me mad, waited so long for these. Really sad at the moment, need some antidepressiva.

IMG_0983

Thanks, I’ll take a look. I’m hoping transcription, which is far less complicated than translation, is an easier and faster effort with the glasses.

Having microphones in the glasses is also a significant advance over using a smart phone microphone which is difficult to orient towards a speaker.

Thanks again.

In reply to @Emile030

Hi @Emile030,

Would you be able to pass along your impressions of how well transcription is working with the G1s?

I think I’ve seen every YouTube video and comment on social media about the G1s and transcription capabilities and the opinions seem to vary from “only suitable for one person speaking in quiet setting with noticeable lag” to “provides exactly what a hard of hearing person needs to follow conversations.”

Could you provide us please with your unique perspective as I believe it would be much appreciated by many on this forum?

Thanks.

Edited

Last I checked “Hearing Tracker” was set up for hearing loss discussion and not foreign language translation. With that said “let’s get the chicken before the egg”. Smart glasses, AR glasses, etc., can’t even properly translate English to text or live textt/captioning as of this writing. Yes there are glasses out there that claim they do X,Y,Z, for hearing impaired but they are still in development stage with below average speech display processing. You’ll find a few smart glass brands in China and else where but no one is buying in mass volume - since the technology is not yet fully proven. There are battery power issues, charging issues, glass touch activatiion issues, and more importantly “English - glass lens translation issues”. Does the smart phone handle every thing by itself? Does smart phone work in combination/connection with cell phone? Will some future watch be involved? Right now no one is setting the world on fire with any kind of smart glass translation glasses, be it for English or a foreign language.

But since this is a “hearing loss” forum I really think foreign language translation takes a back seat to plain English translation for the hearing impaired. But maybe from a marketing stand point Smart Glasses might do far more sales if offering foreign language translation.

Personally I’d like to see smart glasses do two, three, four things really well versus stuffing them with all kinds of extra goodies and then have nothing work… Case in point Meta Ray Ban smart glasses really do nothing major. Yet they are selling to some degree but tell me “what actually exciting about them”? No much and they certainly don’t translate English or any foreign language.

Your question is better asked a year or more likely two years away when Apple, Meta and maybe Google get serious about smart glasses. Until then we tread water and live with half baked smart glasses that really don’t do much at all. Except cost you a pretty penny.

If you read the thread, you’ll see I was asking about transcription, not translation, albeit transcription in more languages than just English. So, I think the topic is more than appropriate for this forum and should be of interest to a great many people who need just a bit of help in deciphering conversation and don’t want to be looking at a transcription app on their phone.

Moreover, the commentary around the Even Realities G1 glasses in Reddit, Youtube, etc is far from dismissive – rather it is “mixed” with some people saying transcription works well and others saying the lag in transcription mitigates its usefulness. But the G1s don’t in any way appear to be “half baked smart glasses that that really don’t do much at all.” Pricing is also on par with regular high-end glasses.

I’ll note here that the G1s use the same programmatic mechanism to provide both “transcription” as well as “translation.” This is understandable in that its far less expensive to use a single cloud API to “translate,” say, English-to-English" or “Spanish-to-Spanish” then it is to create two separate APIs – one for translation and one for transcription. Perhaps that is why you think I’ve been discussing translation? One would hope that “transcription” in the future can be separated from the “translation” API and processed locally on the phone but the initial first generation G1s appear to have some transcription utility nonetheless and is a more than worthwhile topic to discuss.

Edited

Your thread was based on smart glasses that might benefit (user) in conjunction with spoken foreign language that can translate speech to text in real time. From one language to another. That’s not a real high priority here but to each his own. You are correct that some current smart glasses on the market are out performing others but in general all smart glasses for the deaf or hearing imparied are still basically in concept stage. Are theycurrently being sold. Yes. But there being sold with noted flaws and performance irregularities. Case it point you mentioned Even Realities G1 glasses. If you have watched uTube reviews for G1’s you would know there are issues with indoor use versus outdoor use. Sun glare it appears is not a G1’s users friend, thus the need to attach rather cheap looking snap on shades. Not sure how long they will last with constant putting on and taking off daily. There is also problems with activating various glass function by tapping parts of glasses (temple tip, temple, glass frame). User have complained about misleading locations when taping and speed to tapping. I’m sure over time these problems will be corrected. Lastly I believe there is some slight distortion when looking through glass lens and text transcription. Again probably something that will be corrected in next year upgrade model.

But the point I’m trying to get across is Hearing Tracker was established to assist those with a hearing imparirment that might be added or improved via hearing aids, Ci, future smart glasses, etc. It’s some what a stretch to claim “foreign language transcription” is a high priority for someone who struggling to hear better.

@mdboy said:

Has anyone had some recent experiences with smart glasses that can transcribe spoken conversation and display in glasses?

Here is my first post:

"Has anyone had some recent experiences with smart glasses that can transcribe spoken conversation and display in glasses?

I am very good at speaking foreign languages but not so good at understanding them. I don’t need a lot of help but would like at least a few words of spoken French or Spanish transcribed (it doesn’t need to be translated and would actually prefer it were not) and displayed in glasses so I can figure out what my conversation partner is saying.

I find phone based transcription apps to be awkward to use and the microphone too far from most people to get a good transcription. I think I really need glasses with their own intelligent, telescoping microphones to get good transcription.

I realize we are probably still in first gen of this type of solution but am curious to understand everyone’s experiences. Thanks!"

The post is about transcription in English as well as other common foreign languages. In fact, I specifically say I’m NOT interested in translation.

Can I please ask you to stop making things up and trying to stifle conversation?

Transcription IS a high priority for this community. Some people on this forum speak English as a first language. Some speak French as a first language. Some speak Spanish and other languages as a first language. Some people speak more than one language because of family and other factors. Transcription is important for all those people.

If you don’t think transcription is important and think smart glasses are overpriced and don’t work well, that’s fine. You don’t have to participate. Or say you think they aren’t advanced enough and move on. But it’s not helpful for you to attempt to shut down conversation on a subject that might be important to other people who don’t necessarily agree with you.

Edited

I’m very keen to learn more about transcription (not translation) capabilities as this is something that I regularly use (via my Mac when working at home) to help me “hear” what is being spoken during online meetings.

I use MS Teams real time transcription during meetings and while it appears the only about 70% accurate, it is enough to back up my actual hearing.

If the glasses (these or others) could match that while I’m out and about, working in near real time, I would be very happy.

As an aside, I can recommend Krisp for providing after the fact transcription and summarisation. But this, like Teams, requires an active network connection.

If the glasses could provide passable (if not perfect) transcription, offline, that would be great.

Although this forum is English based, there are many on it who speak other languages. So for us, it is interesting to find out if smart glasses can transcribe in more languages than just English.

And thank you for the reminder, sometimes I forget to look outside these four walls.

So, beside the very promising G1, what are the best alternatives in the market right now for transcriptions?

And, on a second note, what the most promising models expected to come out soon?

Thanks!

@SayAgain3 said:

Last I checked “Hearing Tracker” was set up for hearing loss discussion

@SayAgain3
That might be true with all respect.

Everything that adds to compensate for hearing loss seems to be of importance in the opinion of many hearing impaired people.
Although I’m not the inventor nor owner of this worthy and respected forum it makes me happy to see that we can discuss a lot over here.

And I am personally glad to see that the OP @mdboy opened this subtopic. Hearing to me means the possibility to be part of a community, where you can participate by being able to communicate. And at the moment there seems to be a rapid grow in, untill now unknown, ’s as I see them. This will change the world as did the first hearing aids in former years.

So solutions in my opinion belong to the ‘hearing loss discussion’.

In reply to @AlexE

@AlexE said:

while it appears the only about 70% accurate, it is enough to back up my actual hearing

@AlexE
I fully agree with you. And my experience with the G1 is that’s even better then the translators used at the moment. As the speech recognition in the G1 use to have a better performance. Interesting to see during the transcription how the translation of the speech is build up and corrected in real time!
G1 are the only glasses at the moment with perfect optical glasses which normally are only used in expensive optical eyewair. And just a few important additional futures with the main purpose of speech recognition.

@DamonHill said:

And, on a second note, what the most promising models expected to come out soon

At the moment no one knows what’s coming up next. But for hearing impaired these are the best since two weeks. I can write a whole page about that but will not bother you here.

In reply to @Emile030

OK, let’s start pumping smart glasses specically for what’s being spoken and how it translates in another language. Forget basic benefits for the deaf and hearing impaired and let’s put all our research dollars into speaking Mandarin that will translate into English. Oh and lets put more research dollars into miniature cameras that can zoom in on what your partner is texting, without partner knowing. Etc.

Or hey - why don’t we separate the two and have spcific glasses for those hearing challenged (English to English) and then transcription glasses for those flying to China who want to correspond to some one speaking Mandarin. Think of the cost savings for the basis English to English smart glasses versus the $9,999 smart glasses “special” that can handle 30 language display.

Reviews for most live captioning glasses have been mediocre at best and that also includes Even Realities G1 glasses. G1 hast serious “bugs” that need to addressed. Though I do like Even Realities G1 glasses video advertisements that spends five minutes showing you the box the glasses came in. How exciting.

Smart glasses (AR glasses) are going to evolve over the next decade in many directions. Not just for text lens display, nor language translation. Changes are going to be far more than that. But let’s remember that “Hearing” is the main subject matter here and not some side shows on how to order Mandarin cuisine when wearing future smart glasses.

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