As of March 26, we're $27,100 in the red for the quarter. Donate here to support this vital work
Subscribe here and join over 13,000 subscribers to our free weekly newsletter

Teen Inventors Create Live Closed-Captioning Glasses for the Deaf
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Smithsonian Magazine


Smithsonian Magazine, December 16, 2015
Posted: May 23rd, 2022
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/teen-inventors-cre...

It’s a common misconception that most hearing-impaired people can easily read lips. But while many are indeed practiced lip readers, only 30 to 40 percent of English can be understood through watching the mouth. Much of spoken English occurs without lip movement. This leaves many hearing-impaired people at a loss when communicating with the hearing. Now, a company is hoping to help the hearing-impaired in a more seamless way. The Live-Time Closed Captioning System (LTCCS) instantly turns speech into scrolling text displaying on a tiny screen clipped to a pair of glasses. LTCCS’s founders say it “restores the user's ability to engage in a naturally flowing conversation.” LTCCS creator Daniil Frants was inspired to design the device when his guitar teacher asked him if he thought Google Glass might be able to somehow help him communicate with his hearing-impaired father. “I started messing around with Google Glass, seeing if it could do some closed captioning function,” he says. “But after six months it became obvious that there was no way to do that effectively using Glass.” So Frants decided to do it himself. He created a system built from existing or modified parts—a Raspberry Pi microcomputer, a voice recognition system and a display. The user wears a microphone, which is connected to the microcomputer. The microcomputer picks up sounds and translates them to text using the voice recognition software, then sends them up to the display in a pair of glasses.

Note: Two other versions of glasses allowing voice to text for the deaf can be found on this webpage and this one. Explore a treasure trove of concise summaries of incredibly inspiring news articles which will inspire you to make a difference.


Top Inspiring News Articles


Top Inspiring News Articles from Years Past