BabelFisk: Glasses That Will Text You What They Hear

Imagine a world where everything is alive, moving and interactive, but there is one thing missing… sound. That is exactly the world a hearing impaired person has to face each and every day. Sign language is a great help and is the primary language used. However, it can sometimes be very time consuming and many people on our beloved planet are unable to speak it. As a matter of fact, there aren’t many people at all that bother learning this language.

For a hearing impaired person, life can become quite limiting when it comes to networking and connecting with other people. Therefore, a new pair of glasses has been conceptualized and developed by designer Mads Hindhede and they are nothing less than pure awesomeness. It will allow a hearing impaired person to follow any conversation live.

The glasses, named “BabelFisk” have two microphones that listen to any speech from the outside world. It translates it, and texts it on the screen (glasses) in front of the person wearing the glasses. The two microphones even read from what direction the chatter comes from and prints it out accordingly. Also incorporated is a flash memory that can record any speech, and even the translated text, so that you can go back and review it at a later time. It’s not only great for the hearing impaired, but also for people who want to make it easier for themselves during lectures and keynotes since it will record everything that is being said. It’s stunningly simple, ultimately useful and awesome. This device should be awarded many times over. Brilliant!