SpeakSee allows deaf people to join a conversation

SpeakSee is a brand new smart health smart health connected object that will allow deaf people to take part in a conversation with people who are not deaf.

SpeakSee is not the first object that aims to do this. There are text-to-speech applications that allow deaf users to read what others are saying. However, this type of object works quite poorly with background noise or by several people speaking at the same time.

SpeakSee was created by Dutch entrepreneur Jari Hazelebach (in collaboration with the company's co-founder, Marcel van der Ven), who grew up with two deaf parents who often found it difficult to follow family conversations.

The basic installation consists of three Wi-Fi wireless microphones (although up to nine can be accommodated), a micro / charger docking station, and an iOS / Android app. Each microphone is attached to the shirt of a person involved in a conversation, and uses a directional "beam-forming" system to capture their speech while not picking up background noise, or other people's speech.

The microphones transmit audio to the docking station, which can be located up to 20 meters away. It processes the words collected by the different microphones, then transmits the audio data via Wi-Fi to the application on the smartphone of the deaf user. This application transcribes the data into a text displayed on the screen in real time, with different colors and names indicating the person speaking. Over 120 languages ​​and variants are supported.

The battery life for microphones ranges from two to four hours per charge, depending on how the wearer speaks. The docking station can also be used when it's not plugged into an electrical outlet, and its battery can run for about eight hours.

SpeakSee is currently the subject of an Indiegogo campaign. The product is available from $ 249. To finish, here is a short product demo ehealth:

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