XRAI Glass is a new product that provides an app and eyewear that can be connected to get subtitles in real time. This assistive technology has transformed how people with disabilities like deafness and hard of hearing navigate the world around them. The founders, Dan Scarfe and Mitchell Feldman created this product to help their family members who are deaf/hard of hearing. The XRAI Glass product process is one app that converts audio into visuals, which is connected to another app that turns speech into subtitles in real-time, these subtitles are then shown through the AR glasses and app. These products have helped people with hearing impairments but also people with cognitive difficulties, such as Auditory Processing Disorder (ADP).
Key Features & Models
One of the key features of the app and glasses are the fast subtitles on your phone and on the glasses that it provides. In addition to the transcription and the subtitles occurring on the AR glasses, the product provides translations for over 140 languages to make sure that the service meets the needs for every type of user. Which shows how the product uses key elements of utility and usability to ensure that the product is accessible.
Another key feature of the product is how it is AR compatible and provides an AI Assistant. Since the product also provides a pair of smart AR glasses, there is no delay in the conversation and the users can understand the conversation and read the text in a convenient way, right in front of their eyes. They won’t have to look down to their phones to check the transcriptions. The AR glasses makes the experience more seamless and convenient for each type of user and showcases a key element of accessibility, compatibility. In addition to this, the AI Assistant uses the help of ChatGPT to help provide summaries or answers to questions during a conversation. Therefore the affordability or the value of the product is so much greater since its not just transcriptions or subtitles but also a guided hand during a conversation if the user needs it.
Lastly, the app also provides desirability through how it looks and feels but also how it adds to the value of the conversation. All of the subtitles and conversations are saved in the cloud so that users can go back and have a memory of conversations at their disposable. The added microinteractions of saving the conversations and adding privacy also helps show how valuable and accessible this product is for those who want to feel safe with how their conversations are saved and there is no data being taken.
Conclusion:
This product exemplifies the Social Model of Disability by showing that people with disabilities can participate in society in meaningful ways. With these services, Scarff and Feldman provide accessible services that create an environment or situations that enable people with disabilities in society. With the help of the AI assistant, countless people with cognitive auditory processing disorder can understand what the conversation and ask questions to the AI and create a voice for themselves. With the easy look and feel of the app as well as the features to save conversations, the product shows desirability and adds on to the experience of the app as well as make it more accessible. Lastly, with the key features of the subtitles and transcription, the product shows key utility to have the basic needs of people with hearing impairments be met and add to how viable and accessible the product is.
Resources:
http://www.e-accessibilitytoolkit.org/toolkit/product_development_and_design/accessible_product