Hear the Text: Captioning Glasses for Deaf People | Maya Zureiqi

Close your eyes and listen. The crunch of autumn leaves, the jangle of car horns. Soft jazz or Harry Styles cooing through headphones. The evening ends with the click of the doorknob and the family horsing around the dinner table. Someone from the other room says something hilarious, and the entire family laughs. These sounds are heard and felt throughout the body. Aural joys are routine for millions of Americans. However, something as simple as the ability to hear loved ones could be taken away at any moment. 

Deaf individuals worldwide need tools to help them navigate a noisy world.

Omeir Awan lived most of his life hearing. His worries were like most young men his age: finding a better-paying job or spending time with his elderly grandmother. But these worries escalated when his neurological disorder, neurofibromatosis type 2, resulted in a seizure. Awan has always had the disease, but the seizures led to the loss of his hearing, which stripped away simple luxuries. He and 430 million deaf individuals worldwide need tools to help them navigate a noisy world. Mankind has worked on inventions to assist the lives of deaf people.

History of Hearing Help

The first attempts were inconvenient, even if they worked somewhat. The first ever hearing aid was called an ear trumpet, or hearing trumpet. It was a simple convex design for the sound to funnel into the ears. This primitive 1634 tech lasted until 1810, when a German inventor, Johann Nepomuk Mäzel, upgraded the ear trumpet. This version assisted deaf individuals like Beethoven, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Jane Austen. 

Even as inventions became more precise . . . hearing aids faced the same issue: the need to carry around larger devices

In 1898, American engineer Miller Reese Hutchison developed a working hearing aid that used electrical currents to amplify weaker signals for better listening. So long as someone wanted to lug around a microphone, amplifier, and headphones, they would enjoy this so-called Akouphone. Even as inventions became more precise, the 1920 Vactuphone and the 1948 transistor hearing aids faced the same issue: the need to carry around larger devices. 

Real progress in accurate, truly portable hearing aids began between 1958 to 1970, when behind-the-ear and in-the-ear hearing aids were introduced. The hearing aid most commonly known today was introduced in the 1990s, using microcomputers and high-speed processors. In 2010, Bluetooth technology was incorporated into hearing aids. 

“If I take off my hearing aid, I can’t hear anything. If I put my hearing aid on, I can hear.”
—Chad Williams

In February, an interview was conducted with Chad Williams, an American Sign Language professor at Central Connecticut State University, over Zoom. Though able to hear with his Bluetooth-connectable hearing aids, he had requested an online interview so that he could better hear me using Zoom’s captioning feature. He sat in a green Nike hoodie in the comfort of his living room. “If I take off my hearing aid, I can’t hear anything. If I put my hearing aid on, I can hear. I’m listening to you through the Bluetooth.” He noted the hearing aid as a general assistance, while also acknowledging the pros of having the most innovative, recent version. It had come in handy in a way hearing people wouldn’t imagine. “My boys are hearing. So if they have the TV loud in another room, I can connect it to the Bluetooth. They shut the TV off and I go back to my hearing aids.” He said he can also turn them off to tune out the cartoons, though he tries not to out of respect for hearing people. 

It seems the listening device has done all it can to assist deaf individuals. But technology and human innovation march on. 

A New Kind of Device: Caption Glasses

There is a common misconception that all disabled people with the same disability are alike. This could not be farther from the truth, especially for the deaf community. Central’s ASL Coordinator, Aiden Mack, is fully deaf even with the help of any aids. Using an interpreter, Mack reported that the many deaf people she knew have refused even an advancement like a cochlear implant. Some people find it irritating because of its inconsistencies, and some simply find it worthless. Deaf people have sought an invention that can address most of their preferences.

Captioning glasses might be that invention. The visual and audio synapses in the brain work together as captions appear on the lenses of these special glasses. Deaf people can maintain their sight and receive additional information when people around them speak in real time. It’s a perfect invention in theory, but it still has flaws that prevent a seamless adoption. Some are far too expensive, some only work in spaces with a Wi-Fi network, and most only caption in English. Problems like these make it difficult for a shopper to know what glasses meet all of their needs. There needs to be a well-made pair that stands out in comparison to the others.

Enter Xander

XanderGlasses were introduced in 2023 but at first appeared to be a scam due to the hefty price of $5,000. Even Mack noted that this amount of money felt like “Hearing companies scamming deaf people.” The ability to hear should not cost anyone a cent, let alone thousands. Yet $5,000 glasses can change lives. 

When Omeir Awan came down with sudden hearing loss, he lost his ability to work, live on his own, and use his voice. Awan, a devout Muslim, was unable to practice the simple act of praying or fasting during the holy month of Ramadan. He felt too disconnected from his culture and, therefore, himself because of his disability. “I was depressed and angry before. I felt like I couldn’t do anything.” 

Awan had met with the developers behind XanderGlasses at a convention, and he soon after purchased his own pair. They don’t need Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and have a four- to five-hour battery life, which works perfectly for him. The Xander glasses also offer prescription lenses and are available in over fifty languages, including French, Spanish, and Arabic, making them suitable for most Americans who don’t speak only English. 

“I want people to know! That’s my goal.”

Awan’s neurological disorder also removed precise articulation of his fingers, which left him unable to sign. He shares this struggle with older deaf individuals, who could develop arthritis or lose function in their fingers. Xander is a company run by deaf people, for deaf people; it works to assist individuals with these specific issues. The glasses have changed his life for the better. “I want people to know! That’s my goal.”

Xander’s price makes them out of reach for many, but Awan is confident in Xander’s ability to work with insurance companies to keep the glasses as cheap as possible. He estimated customers could eventually make purchases in increments of two hundred dollars a year.

Not All Deaf People

Part of the assumption that all disabled people are alike includes seeking a fix that not everyone needs or wants. People who are born deaf have drastically different expectations than people who lost their hearing later in life; those who never knew hearing do not crave it, preferring that others understand their unique culture. According to Mack, deaf people are usually in schools with fewer walls, so they can better hear what others say with their hands. They have established customs about what is considered an interruption, such as walking in front of people signing instead of “rudely” moving around them. 

Back in her campus office, Mack also advised against trusting larger corporations, noting that Xander and other inventors function to make deaf people more manageable for hearing people, not the other way around. She was more cautious about helpful inventions originating from ableist ideals, noting simply that “Hearing people want ‘fixes.’” Although Xander’s inventors appear on the side of the deaf community, it’s still important to weigh the concerns of those affected. It is imperative that only earnest inventions to help the deaf community be heard about.

Feature Image : Omeir Awan / Photo Credit by Omeir Awan