New AR glasses allow deaf people to ‘see’ conversations by turning audio into subtitles

Dan Scarfe, the founder of a new company that has found a way to unlock conversation for deaf and hard of hearing people, says the idea dawned on him over Christmas with his family last year.

Scarfe witnessed his 97-year-old hearing impaired grandfather struggling to engage with the rest of his family, and was inspired to find a solution so that he could participate in conversations in real-time.

“It's just so difficult when there are so many people around you and you're trying to keep track of the different conversations which are going on,” Scarfe told Euronews Next.

“It’s got to the point now where he literally just sits in silence. And I thought, well, hang on a second. He watches TV all the time with subtitles. Why can't we subtitle the world?”

Now, just six months later, his company, in partnership with Augmented Reality glasses manufacturer Nreal, has unveiled XRAI Glasses.