Xander Captioning Glasses Are Here

#1

XanderGlasses are now ready for users to pre-order! Pre-orders will be fulfilled in order they are received, with delivery ranging between January and March. Seems developer Alex Westner is “first to market” with captioning eye glasses. Good for him.

Though I will need to read reviews on exciting new product, glasses appear to be wireless and almost normal looking, though temple arms are on large side. Not sure what power usage is and how long glasses will operate before recharge. But I like the fact these glasses are made in U.S. versus China.

Going to be interesting to see how XanderGlasses and other competing captioning glasses coming out next year assist those who are deaf or severely hard of hearing. Some what amazing that these small start up developers are beating Apple, Google, Meta, etc., to the finish line for captioning glasses. Especially since these mega giant technology companies have billions of dollars in cash floating around in their hip pocket.

Yea maybe sometimes the little guy wins.

1 Like
#2

for a minit I thought it was Xandar from the guardians of the galaxy!!!

image
image1920×980 214 KB

This comment on youtube is hilarious:

image
image2239×718 99 KB

On another note, 3 hours running time is just not acceptable, and and you will have to wear them on top of your existing prescription glasses!!!

#3

I wasn’t aware you have to wear Xander Captioning glasses on top of existing glasses. That’s a negative because you then have have to much weight on your outer ear, along with BTE hearing aids. But there could be many users who don’t wear glasses. Three hour running time is very acceptable since its just first inning of a nine inning baseball game. As time goes by running time will increase along with faster re-charging. When rechargeable aid batteries first came out ten years ago, they only lasted 8 hours. Give it time and also let’s see what competitors come out with.

Cause it the FUTURE.

2 Likes
#4

They did say on their website that they offer single vision prescriptive lenses. I’m guessing that’s OK for people with a straightforward loss to correct, but for people with astigmatism or people who wear varifocals then they would have to resort to putting them on over their existing glasses.

1 Like
#5

$5,000. Yikes. I’m excited about the technology, but will wait for a few improvements:

  1. Price point more realistic, say $1K or less
  2. Better working relationship with current glasses. I can’t wear my bifocals, plus the Xander, and my hearing aid & Cochlear implant. My ears would fall off from the weight :slight_smile:
  3. Longer battery life

Having said that, I’m glad to see this project come out, and being USA made is icing on the cake!

5 Likes
#6

$5k is a major stumbling block. I will have to wait for some real reviews before even considering investing that much in a untested product.

2 Likes
#7

To me the big question is how accurately the glasses will transcribe speech to text. I’ve found the transcription almost perfect in English, Spanish, and French when in a controlled environment like a Skype call. But the quality is very variable when out in the wilds of a real-world conversation and I wonder how close glasses wearer will have to be to the person speaking since there’s obviously no extended mic.

When someone has actually tried the, please post.

3 Likes
#9

Prices will come down but totally agree $5000 is way over the line. Got feeling Xander might be worried about sales volume, so they over priced glasses $4000. Just like Apple over priced AR headset (apple vision pro) at $3,499. When companies go for pure money grab they’ll get burned every time.

#10

Yes, right now there are lots and lots of unknowns regarding AR captioning glasses. Accuracy of transcribe speech as you say. Environment factors (quiet room - noisy room). Distance factors. Multiple people talking, possibly over each other. Users talking - with no translation or unfortunate glass lens translation? Power usage, recharging capabilities and of course style of glass frames, etc. Lastly are AR glasses offered with prescription lenses?

Keep an eye out for a small start up company called “heARsight” based in South Bend, Indiana. They have really good looking glasses along with internal technology to be a leader in AR/Smart glasses for deaf/severely hard of hearing. Plus they just partnered with ActiveLook from MICROOLED for its Hardware Technology Platform. I believe company is now in major pre-test mode, before offering AR glasses to buying public sometime next year.

4 Likes
#11

I have been following Hearsight and Their glasses are now available at $400. Unfortunately they don’t have an IOS app approved yet but they say it is coming soon. I am waiting to read some reviews from Android users who should be posting soon online. Their glasses do look promising.

1 Like
#12

Those specs are from an earlier prototype.

The current XanderGlasses model is not meant to be worn over your glasses, and gets ~6 hours of battery life when cloud-connected.

1 Like
#13

It’s not about volume, it’s just that the hardware itself is expensive. And the hardware is expensive because it has a lot of processing power inside to work as a stand-alone device — the processing needed to be powerful enough to run a large vocabulary speech-to-text engine locally.

#14

Understand but if AR glasses with caption translation are going to take off they will have to be priced $1,500 or lower. There’s a lot of hardware in an iPhone 14 and it only costs around $700 to say $1,100. Competition is coming, so over time prices will drop but I have no idea how far. But I think its important to say people who might come to rely on captioning glasses as HA back up (or working in tandem with aids) will be willing to pay extra for quality of product. That’s why I think the big tech players are holding off producing AR glasses, simply because that can’t yet deliver a solid quality build/operation they want. Clock is ticking though

#15

There’s a saying in the A11y community that I love — “progress over perfection.” While the price of our product is more on par of with the price of prescription hearing aids, it’s going to help many people today who are willing and able to access it, so we’re jumping in.

Prices will go down over time, and our primary competitor, XRAI Glass, is already offering a solution in the price range you suggested

2 Likes
#16

I recently received Xander glasses and I am extremely pleased with them. One of the key advantages is that they are totally self contained. It is not necessary to connect them to a smart phone which can be cumbersome. Another great feature is that they do not need wifi so they can be used anywhere. The text is responsive and easy to read. I am far sighted but the text is projected at a distance that enables me to read it clearly. I use inexpensive stick on bifocal lenses to enable me to read menus and use my smart phone easily. So far I have used the Xander glasses at restaurants, outdoor sporting events, meetings, social events, medical appointments and of course at home. In all situations it was easy to follow what is being said. An external remote microphone is provided which works well in particularly noisy environments like restaurants. This has been a life changer for me as I cannot otherwise understand conversations with my bimodal Cochlear/aide hearing. I would be glad to answer any specific questions about them.

6 Likes
#17

Hi,

My questions for you are:

  1. If you have used Google Live Transcribe before, how does this program compare? I am often disappointed with LT because when I need it the most (noisy environments, speaking with somebody who has an accent) the screen just stays blank.
  2. How long does the battery last?
  3. Is there a button to turn captions on? Does it respond to voice prompts?
  4. Can you still read the captions when outside on a bright day?
  5. Is there a sunglasses attachment?
  6. How heavy is the device?
  7. How thick are the ear pieces of the frame (will they accommodate hearing aids easily)?
  8. Is the device water resistant?
2 Likes
#18

Good questions:

My questions for you are:

  1. If you have used Google Live Transcribe before, how does this program compare? I am often disappointed with LT because when I need it the most (noisy environments, speaking with somebody who has an accent) the screen just stays blank.
    I use several different apps, and MS Group Transcribe the most, but also Otter. The glasses compare favorably to most of the apps I have used but slightly less responsive in certain situations. The big advanatage is that I can maintain eye contact and not have to be looking at my phone. For a noisy environment the included cordless microphone works well.
  2. How long does the battery last? 2 - 3 hours. I asked about using an external battery with USB C connection and they are checking into that. I did try it and it seems to work fine but they are concerned that the glasses may heat up and affect performance.
  3. Is there a button to turn captions on? Does it respond to voice prompts? There is a power button which you push for a few seconds to activate the glasses. Once they are on a short press of the same button puts them in standby mode. The glasses also respond to voice commands to turn them off and to adjust the text size and position.
  4. Can you still read the captions when outside on a bright day? They do need a dark background so if looking directly at the sky you cannot read the captions. I f I am listening to someone I usually can find a dark shirt or something similar to be able to read the captions.
  5. Is there a sunglasses attachment? Yes, they come with a clip on sunglasses.
  6. How heavy is the device? Not sure of the exact weight but they are not too bad to wear for an hour or more.
  7. How thick are the ear pieces of the frame (will they accommodate hearing aids easily)? They are fairly thick but I am able to wear them over my hearing aid and my cochlear device. I just need to be careful how I put them on. They also come with a strap which is handy to have them hang from the neck when not in use. I will try to post a picture.
  8. Is the device water resistant? No they are not water resistant.
2 Likes
#19

Here is a link to what they look like: https://www.google.com/imgres?q=xander%20glasses&imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fmma.prnewswire.com%2Fmedia%2F1978548%2FXander_PR_pic__002.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.prnewswire.com%2Fnews-releases%2Fvuzix-blade-powers-xanders-real-time-captioning-xanderglasses-for-the-deaf-and-hard-of-hearing-301715249.html&docid=1ZOcMO59CXmvpM&tbnid=WEaS0VBIvysk9M&vet=12ahUKEwjXqembt8-FAxWrI0QIHVdQAa8QM3oECEsQAA..i&w=400&h=154&hcb=2&ved=2ahUKEwjXqembt8-FAxWrI0QIHVdQAa8QM3oECEsQAA

#20

Hi, I have followed and appreciate your comments to previous questions, and have a few others. I am waiting for the VA to approve my request for these glasses, and am trying to soak up as much info beforehand as possible. Also, I thank you for the link to what they look like. 1. How does one handle prescription requirements? I assume that Xander can’t provide the product to one’s Rx needs? 2.Can conversations be downloaded? 3. Can the Vizux power bank be used for recharging? 4, How is fitting accomplished (can any optician fit them)? 5. Does a recharging arrangement come with the purchase, or is that purchased separately?

#21

But why relying on a stand-alone solution and not on phone connectivity? That would seem to me like a more convenient solution to reduce cost and make it less bulky.

Everybody has a phone with usually good computing specs to do the hard work, to keep the glasses as lightweight and inexpensive and possible.