Company: OrCam Technologies
Category: Accessibility

OrCam Hear is the world’s first artificial intelligence (AI)-driven, wearable assistive technology device for people with hearing impairments, combining lip reading with simultaneous voice source separation.

Operated hands-free, the wireless hearing aid is worn like a necklace and has camera modules and microphone sets that allow the user to receive crisp and isolated voices, even among crowds, solving a normal “cocktail party problem” of muddled voices that occur with traditional hearing aids.

The OrCam Technologies team has also developed an assistive wearable that help those with visual impairments or blindness by using bone-conduction speaker to offer clear speech as it reads aloud words describes the object to which the user is pointing.

The company aims to harness the power of artificial vision and technology to improve the lives of its users.

The Tech Behind It

OrCam Hear empowers those with hearing impairments by identifying the person speaking to the device wearer through multiple speakers, and isolating the voice and relaying the filtered speech through Bluetooth hearing aids in real time.

The device works with relying on body gestures to identify the person a user wants to listen to, and it then toggles between speakers by responding to the body postures of the OrCam Hear user.

Because it does not need Wi-Fi, OrCam Hear has low power consumption, allowing the user to wear the device all day.

The camera module has a wide range for identification and allows the OrCam Hear to function well even in a variety of lighting conditions.

Designed by an experienced fashion designer, OrCam Hear has the aesthetic of and is customizable to suit the taste of each wearer.

See OrCam Hear at the CES 2020 Innovation Awards Showcase.