Hear with Your Eyes: A Review of Live Captioning Glasses

Have you ever struggled to communicate in social situations—bars, restaurants, work meetings—due to hearing loss? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if real life came with captions, so you could see a transcript of conversations in real-time right before your eyes? Well, this is no longer a futuristic notion, but rather something that is being made possible with augmented reality (AR) glasses.

In today’s world, there are automated captions everywhere. We see them on YouTube, Social media platforms, and video communication services like Google Meet, Zoom, and FaceTime. Closed captioning can make a huge difference for people with hearing loss who want to follow a TV show or understand a video call.

Editor’s Note: HearingTracker also offers a review of Hearing Glasses—or glasses that amplify sound—at Hearing Glasses: Smart Glasses for Better Listening and Communication.

Easier Everyday Communication Through the Power of AR

AR is an enhanced version of a real-life environment using digital visual elements, sounds, or other sensory stimuli. Live-captioning glasses use AR to project onto your glasses, inserting a discreet captioning service into your real life, in real time.

AR captioning glasses can assist you in your everyday communications, meaning you no longer need to rely on body language and speechreading to fill in any missing keywords in conversation and can enjoy communication with relative ease. You simply pop on the captioning glasses and can “see” the conversation happening in your field of vision—just like watching television with captions.

Although captioning glasses have been around for a few years now, initial prototypes were aesthetically “chunky” and were not comfortable to wear for long periods. Increasingly, they are becoming more lightweight, and some even boast new innovative features beyond captioning. This means they can be worn for a whole host of different situations, such as conversations, the cinema, theater, lectures, meetings, or when you’re at home watching TV.

Here’s a quick summary table of some of the best and most promising captioning-glasses options, including purpose-built glasses, mainstream smart glasses with captioning features, and app-based solutions that work with compatible AR eyewear.

We’ll also continue to update this page as new companies and models in the market appear—so bookmark this page!

A Note on the Hardware Behind Captioning Glasses

When it comes to captioning smart glasses, many companies don’t build the hardware themselves. Instead, they adapt AR glasses from established manufacturers—originally designed for entertainment or productivity—and layer on their own software for real-time speech-to-text. Brands like Vuzix, XREAL, LLVISION, MICROOLED, and MYVU, mentioned in this article, offer lightweight, high-performance platforms that serve as the foundation for these accessibility tools. This approach lets developers focus on their software without needing to reinvent the hardware—a pattern you’ll see throughout this article.

Meta Ray-Ban Display represents a different approach. Rather than a captioning app layered onto third-party AR glasses, it is a vertically integrated smart-glasses product developed by Meta with Ray-Ban styling and a built-in display, AI assistant, camera, speakers, microphones, companion app, and Neural Band controller. That may make the experience more seamless for some users—but it also means the captioning feature is part of a broader consumer-tech ecosystem rather than a dedicated hearing-accessibility product. And with larger future players like Google and Apple, this could become much more common for mass-market captioning glasses.

Next, we’ll take a closer look at some of the companies pioneering captioning glasses technology and how they’re shaping the future of accessible communication.

XRAI Glass / XRAI AR2

$699; free basic offline captioning included with optional paid plans for cloud-enhanced features

XRAI Glass is a captioning and translation platform that turns spoken conversation into real-time subtitles on a phone, tablet, computer, or compatible smart glasses. The company’s name (pronounced “x-ray”) combines XR, for mixed reality, and AI, for artificial intelligence. Founder Dan Scarfe has said the idea grew out of watching his 96-year-old grandfather struggle to follow conversation around a family dinner table because of hearing loss.

The current flagship product is XRAI AR2, a dedicated pair of captioning glasses that replaces the company’s earlier AR One model At $699, it is designed as an all-day captioning-glasses system with real-time captions, translation, offline mode, and optional cloud-enhanced transcription.

AR2 is substantially different from earlier tethered smart-glass approaches. The glasses are wireless, weigh 1.7 oz, include three built-in microphones for 360° voice capture, and use a dual-lens display so captions appear in both eyes. XRAI says the glasses provide 8+ hours of battery life, while the charging case can provide up to 12 additional recharges, or up to 96 hours of total use. The glasses still need to be paired with an iOS or Android phone within Bluetooth range, with speech-to-text processing handled on the phone to keep the glasses lighter and more power-efficient.

A key distinction is that XRAI can work both as a glasses-based system and as an app. The XRAI Glass app is available for iOS and Android and can be used without smart glasses, allowing users to see captions on a phone or tablet. With compatible AR glasses, the same app can display captions in the wearer’s field of view.

XRAI now offers a free Essentials tier for basic offline captioning. According to the company, Essentials includes unlimited basic transcription minutes, support for 20 languages, up to 30-minute conversations, and no internet requirement. XRAI recommends its cloud-enhanced transcription engines for faster and more accurate captioning, particularly in noisy or more complex listening environments.

Paid plans add more advanced features. XRAI’s Premium plan is listed at $15/month and includes 600 monthly “pro” transcription minutes, enhanced captioning accuracy, translation, and unlimited conversation lengths. The Ultimate plan is listed at $30/month and adds higher-level pro features such as multilingual translation, automatic language detection, and speaker identification. The AR2 includes 3,600 pro minutes with purchase, which users can apply when they need cloud-enhanced performance.

For people with hearing loss, the most important point is that XRAI AR2 does not necessarily require a continuing subscription for basic captioning, but many of the features that make the system more powerful—like cloud-enhanced accuracy, translation, speaker identification, and longer or more complex conversations—may depend on pro minutes or a paid plan.

Beyond one-on-one use, XRAI has been expanding into venues and public spaces through XRAI Stream, a platform that can send live captions and translations from a local audio source to phones, desktops, screens, or smart glasses. XRAI says Stream can be used for events, classrooms, workplaces, theaters, sports venues, and travel announcements.

As with all captioning glasses, performance will depend on the listening environment, microphone pickup, speaker distance, accents, background noise, and the transcription model being used. Users should also review XRAI’s privacy and subscription policies carefully, especially if they plan to record, save, translate, summarize, or share conversation transcripts.

The AR 2 will offer up to 8 hours of use and takes a hybrid approach: self-contained and wireless, but offloading processing to a paired smartphone via Bluetooth. This balances the weight of fully standalone glasses and the limits of tethered designs, keeping them under 40g, comfortable, and high performing.

XRAI Glass works with Lensology for prescription lens compatibility; you send your style and prescription to Lensology, which mails you a custom insert. But unlike earlier models where you clip the lens insert in, the new AR 2s will have the prescription lenses built straight into the frames for a much more seamless fit.

While fully wireless glasses are gaining traction, tethered options like XREALs still play an important role in the market. The XREAL Air 2 and Air 2 Pro (72g and 75g) connect via a wired cable for reliable, low-latency performance. Scarfe told HearingTracker, “If people want multipurpose glasses that they can use for lots of things, including subtitles, XREAL is by far the best choice.” Though not solely for captioning, XREAL glasses work well with the XRAI app and are a popular, more affordable option.

XRAI software also offers:

• Real-time translation for 223 languages.
• A conversation recorder that saves transcripts for later. (Users control the data, and XRAI does not access it, operating under a strict privacy policy.)
• Support from AI engines like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Deepgram, VOSK, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT for accurate transcription and smart responses.

XRAI software goes far beyond traditional captioning glasses with the launch of its XRAI Stream platform. It delivers shared audio experiences such as live captions and translations over Bluetooth, without needing special hardware. Similar in spirit to Bluetooth LE Audio’s Auracast, XRAI Stream is designed for broad accessibility, making it ideal for deployment in theaters and public venues. The system captures audio directly at the source (e.g., a mixing desk) and streams real-time subtitles to smart glasses and other devices in up to 223 languages.

To showcase this, XRAI is partnering with the Dutch National Theatre and audio tech company Dante to pioneer live subtitling of theatre performances, enhancing accessibility for deaf, hard-of-hearing, and non-Dutch-speaking audiences. Broader rollouts of XRAI Stream are expected later this year or early next year.

XRAI has also secured funding from the UK’s National Centre for Accessible Transport to bring its tech to buses and trains, allowing passengers to read driver announcements in their own language.

XRAI Glass has received numerous awards, including the Most Innovative Hearing Aid Solutions App at the SME IT Awards (2024), Best Captioning Tech at the Hearing Tech Innovator Awards (2023), and the Technology For Good Award at the Global Business Tech Awards (2023).

XanderGlasses

Price per pair is $5,000 and includes everything needed to use them out of the box, with customization based on individual needs.

Xander is a team of audio experts, engineers, and researchers, led by co-founders Alex Westner and Marilyn Morgan Westner. After earning an MS from the MIT Media Lab for acoustics and audio processing, Alex Westner spent 20 years in the audio industry, working with industry leaders Gibson, Mitsubishi Research Labs, and iZotope. Diagnosed with a vision condition, he became keenly interested in sensory substitution and “the most profound human problem related to audio”: helping people who have trouble hearing.

They partnered with Vuzix, using a modified version of the Vuzix Shield model, semi-customized for their product: XanderGlasses designed as an assistive device for people with hearing loss and communication difficulties.

XanderGlasses are standalone smart glasses, operating independently without the need for a connected smartphone or external device. They have an ergonomic, cushioned design and work right out of the box. Just press a button and wear them. Multiple noise-canceling microphones capture nearby speech and show real-time captions on both lenses.

XanderGlasses offer built-in speech-to-text that works offline, providing reliable captions without the need for Wi-Fi or cloud services, though Wi-Fi can be optionally used to enhance accuracy. They never store conversations and adhere to strict SOC 2 privacy standards.

Testing shows that XanderGlasses achieve 85% to 95% accuracy offline, depending on ambient noise levels. When connected to Wi-Fi, accuracy can improve to as high as 97%. The glasses support 26 built-in languages, and with a Wi-Fi connection, you can access up to 140 languages, with real-time translation between them. HearingTracker editor Karl Strom and video content producer/audiologist Matthew Allsop were both impressed by XanderGlasses at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2025), where they noted the live-captioning worked well even in a very loud and reverberant convention hall.

Weighing 130 grams, the glasses are heavier than other options on the market due to their built-in technology. The company is working to make future versions lighter.

XanderGlass comes with a free app that works on both iPhone and Android. You can use the app to adjust the position, size, and brightness of the captions. Soon, users will be able to change fonts, including one optimized for dyslexia. The app is optional as the glasses work independently.

The bad news is that the glasses have a limited battery life. In offline mode, they offer about 2.5 to 3 hours of continuous captioning. However, when connected to the cloud, early estimates suggest the battery life could potentially double, though this is still being tested. Additionally, putting the glasses into sleep mode when not in use can extend battery life up to 4 hours. The good news is that the glasses take only about 2 hours to fully charge via a USB-C port.

The glasses come with a range of accessories, including a sunglasses clip-on, a wireless microphone and receiver, charging cables and a power adapter, and prescription lenses, if needed. Xander also offers a call to anybody who buys the glasses if they have questions at any time.

Though the price of XanderGlasses is comparable to an average pair of prescription hearing aids, the company is committed to reducing the cost of their product to make it more accessible. They are currently partnering with schools, employers, state assistive technology centers, and vocational rehab programs, and donating glasses for fundraisers, including the Hearing Loss Association of America’s (HLAA) Walk for Hearing.

After launching in Boston in August 2023, XanderGlasses went on sale in November 2023. They are currently available in the US and plan to fulfill orders in Canada and the UK by late 2025.

The technology is just one part of the company’s broader mission and values. Over the past two years, the team has worked closely with individual Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers and audiologists to test and refine the glasses. Their mission has been to support veterans who are hard of hearing or have difficulty understanding speech, helping them regain confidence in communication and a sense of connection with family, friends, and their communities. As a result, XanderGlasses have been specified through the VA since September 2024 as an approved intervention for a range of communication challenges.

“We’re very proud to work with our veterans who are disproportionately affected by hearing loss, and...we were nationally vetted and approved by the VA, so that any VA medical center or clinic in the country can buy glasses for veterans who qualify. So, veterans can get Xander glasses for free in the US, as long as they work with their audiology team,” explains Alex Westner.

XanderGlasses have earned notable recognition, winning the CES 2025 Innovation Award Honoree for Accessibility & Aging, the 2025 TWICE Picks Award for innovation in practical consumer technology, the 2024 Hearing Technology Innovation Award for Assistive Technology & Software, the AccessABILITY Award 2024 from Reviewed (USA Today’s review publication), and the CES 2024 Innovation Award Honoree for Accessibility & Aging.

LEION Hey2 AR Glasses

$549; real-time captions, translation, and AI features

LEION Hey2—also marketed on LEION’s site as Leion Hearing—is the current consumer captioning and translation glasses product from Beijing-based LLVision. The glasses are designed to display real-time speech-to-text captions and translations directly in the wearer’s field of view, with a focus on face-to-face communication, travel, meetings, and multilingual conversations. LEION lists the current price at $549.

Compared with the earlier LEION Hey AR model, Hey2 appears to be a major hardware and software update. LEION lists the glasses at 49 g, with a 480×640 display, Bluetooth 5.4, 2.4/5 GHz Wi-Fi, a magnetic charging interface, and a 245 mAh battery in the glasses. The company claims up to 8 hours of use on a single charge and up to 12 recharges from the portable charging case.

For captioning and translation, Hey2 uses a 4-microphone array with noise reduction and 360° spatial sound sensing. LEION says the system can display real-time subtitles with less than 0.5 seconds of latency and up to 98% accuracy, although accuracy depends on speaker distance, noise, accents, masks, and other real-world listening conditions. The recommended distance is up to 10 meters in quiet conditions, but about 3 meters in noisier settings.

The glasses support real-time transcription, translation, a “Free Talk” two-way translation mode, teleprompter functions, AI summaries, and AI Q&A/ChatGPT-style assistance. LEION advertises support for more than 100 languages and accents, but its Pro-access table distinguishes between a Basic tier with 11 languages and Pro access with 100+ languages. Pro translation access is sold by minutes, with listed packages of 120 minutes for $9.90, 1,200 minutes for $49.90, and 6,000 minutes for $199.90.

Unlike XanderGlasses, Hey2 does not work offline. These glasses must be paired to a phone by Bluetooth, and the phone must be connected to the internet. The HEY app is available for iOS and Android and is used for language settings, conversation history, and firmware updates. LEION’s product page lists compatibility with Android 8.0 or later, while the App Store listing for the LEION app currently says it requires iOS 13.0 or later.

A notable privacy difference from many smart glasses is that Hey2 does not include a front-facing camera or speaker. LEION says this was done for privacy and battery-life reasons. That may make the device feel less intrusive for some users, although it still captures nearby speech for transcription and translation, so users should review the company’s privacy and data-handling policies before purchase.

Prescription lenses are available through LEION, but the company cautions that the optical structure differs from that of standard eyeglasses and recommends using official lenses rather than having them fitted independently by a local optical shop. LEION’s FAQ also says the glasses are only “daily waterproof” and should not be used in the rain, soaked, or cleaned under running water.

AirCaps (formerly TranscribeGlass)

Starting at $599

Editor’s update: TranscribeGlass has only recently been rebranded as AirCaps. The company now sells AirCaps smart glasses for real-time captions, translation, and AI-assisted meetings. While the original TranscribeGlass product was positioned primarily as a lightweight captioning tool for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, AirCaps has broadened the concept into conversation-focused smart glasses for hearing accessibility, language translation, and professional meeting use.

Yale computer science graduate Madhav Lavakare from New Delhi, India, got the idea for captioning glasses after a friend dropped out of high school because he couldn’t afford accessibility accommodations. Lavakare started TranscribeGlass in his garage in 2017 with a clip-on captioning device. But after years of user feedback and refinement, he realized the limitations: clip-ons were hard to secure on different frames, were not user-friendly, and lacked accuracy and reliability.

By 2024, after testing various smart glasses and interviewing users, he identified five key needs for the product: comfort, accuracy, speed, aesthetics, and above all, reliability. In 2025, after a year of development, TranscribeGlass 2.0 was born—and today they have since been reborn as AirCaps.

Designed to look like regular glasses, the new, fully integrated version delivers highly accurate captions even in noisy or crowded places like restaurants. “Now the device is really sleek,” Lavakare told HearingTracker, “It’s almost indistinguishable from a pair of normal reading glasses.”

Lavakare sourced Vuzix’s Ultralite smart glasses and paired them with the app. The glasses support both iPhone and Android and connect to the app via Bluetooth, letting users customize the settings.

AirCaps uses a 4-microphone beamforming array to pick up conversations. Real-time transcriptions appear in green text on the right lens. The software can identify when different people are speaking by assigning each a number. Building on this, you can register a friend’s voice by recording a short sample, so their name appears in the captions. You can even register yourself and choose to hide your own speech from the captions—useful if you don’t want to see your own words while wearing the glasses. While still experimental, these features make captions clearer and more personalized.

Their transcription process is GDPR, SOC 2 Type 2, and HIPAA compliant, which means they handle your data carefully and securely, following important privacy and security laws.

With AirCaps, there is no longer a subscription required for unlimited basic captions in 9 languages (English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese); however, the optional AirCaps Pro membership is $20/month and adds 60+ languages, higher claimed accuracy, speaker identification, and AI meeting tools. When connected to the cloud, they boast 97% speech recognition accuracy.

The device charges via a magnetic port and reaches a full charge in about one hour, providing around 8 hours of continuous captioning on a single charge, depending on the brightness level. With typical intermittent use, many users can go an entire day without needing to recharge.

The company says it is exploring AI assistant features, including ChatGPT-style functionality, while carefully considering what benefits their users without causing distractions. Although not yet part of the standard product, a beta version with an AI assistant is available. Users can activate it by double-tapping the glasses, and it responds to questions based on the context of the ongoing conversation. This feature isn’t included by default, but if customers request an AI assistant, TranscribeGlass offers them access to try it out and share their feedback.

Captify

Captify Myvu: $499; Captify Pro: $699; free captioning included, optional $15/month Premium plan

The new kids on the block, Captify glasses, were co-founded by Tom Pritsky, who lives with hearing loss and previously worked on the first-generation TranscribeGlass, and Jason Gui, a seasoned expert in smart wearables. Unveiled at CES 2025, Captify glasses are purpose-built for accessibility, and the company describes its mission simply: to make everyday conversations accessible by letting users “hear with their eyes.”

Captify now offers two main models: Captify Myvu, its lower-cost model, and Captify Pro, its lighter and more advanced option. Both are designed to display real-time captions in the wearer’s field of view, rather than requiring the user to look down at a phone. The glasses pair with the Captify Glass companion app, available for iOS and Android, and use Bluetooth to connect to a smartphone for captioning, translation, settings, and transcript features.

Captify Myvu is currently listed at $499 and supports real-time captions and translations in 13 languages at no extra monthly cost. It weighs 43 g, uses dual microphones, includes dual-eye displays, and provides up to 4 hours of continuous use. Captify says Myvu supports single-vision, reading, and progressive lenses, as well as non-corrective lens options.

Captify Pro is currently listed at $699 and is positioned as the company’s higher-end model. It weighs 37 g, uses dual-eye diffractive waveguide displays, and includes dual beamforming microphones designed to focus on the person in front of the wearer while reducing competing background noise. Captify lists the display specifications at a 30° field of view, 640×480 resolution, and 1500-nit brightness. The Pro model also supports Bluetooth 5.3, iOS 16+ and Android 12+, IPX4 sweat and rain resistance, and a 10-meter / 30-foot Bluetooth range.

Battery life is similar to many other lightweight display glasses. Captify lists Pro at 4 hours of continuous use in binocular mode and more than 6 hours in monocular mode, with a 40-minute recharge time. Myvu is listed at 4 hours of continuous use and 10 hours of standby time. This is enough for many appointments, meals, meetings, or social situations, but not necessarily for all-day captioning without recharging.

Captify no longer requires a paid subscription for basic use. The company says unlimited captioning is included at no monthly cost. Captify’s optional Premium plan, listed at $15/month, adds more advanced features such as higher claimed caption accuracy, speaker differentiation, conversation summaries, custom word recognition, cloud backup and sync, and an Ask AI feature that can search past conversations.

The technology also reportedly extends to environmental sound detection, which can label non-speech sounds such as applause, laughter, music, or alarms—useful for people who want more context about what is happening around them.

Meta Ray-Ban Display

$799; $999 with prescription lenses; limited U.S. in-store availability

Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses are not captioning-first assistive devices in the same sense as XanderGlasses, TranscribeGlass, or Captify. Instead, they are mainstream AI smart glasses—with a private, full-color display built into the right lens—that now include live captions and translation as part of a broader set of hands-free features. For people with hearing loss, that makes them especially interesting: they can show real-time text captions of speech directly in the wearer’s field of view, reducing the need to look down at a phone during conversation. Meta describes the glasses as combining AI with an in-lens display for notifications, navigation, translation, captions, camera use, messaging, music control, and other hands-free functions.

The key hearing-related feature is Live Captions. Meta says the glasses can display real-time transcriptions of speech on the glasses display, and captions can be started from the glasses, the Meta AI mobile app, or by saying, “Hey Meta, start captions.” Meta recommends facing the person who is talking for best results, and first-time users must download the captioning language in the Meta AI app.

Meta has also added live captions for phone calls, allowing users to see a real-time transcription of a phone conversation on the glasses display. At present, Meta says phone-call captions are available in English for phone calls only.

Beyond captioning, Meta Ray-Ban Display includes live translation, Meta AI, messaging, walking directions, a 12MP camera, hands-free video calling, and music controls.

A major differentiator is the included Meta Neural Band, a wrist-worn EMG controller that interprets small hand and finger movements so the wearer can navigate the display without pulling out a phone. The glasses can also be controlled by voice and a touchpad on the frame.

The hardware is heavier than many dedicated captioning glasses (about 70 g). Meta lists battery life at up to 6 hours of mixed use, with the folding charging case adding up to 24 hours of additional use. The Meta Neural Band is rated for up to 18 hours of use on a charge.

The glasses require a compatible smartphone, the Meta AI app, a Meta account, and an internet connection for cloud-enabled features such as translation, navigation, and real-time AI assistance. They are available in standard and large sizes, in black or sand, with Transitions^® lenses. Prescription lenses are available only at the time of purchase for an additional $200, bringing the total to $999; Meta says Rx support is limited to single-vision clear-to-gray Transitions lenses within a specified prescription range.

For now, availability is limited. Meta says the glasses require an in-store demo and fitting before purchase, are sold through select U.S. retailers, and may be out of stock even after a demo because of limited inventory.

For people with hearing loss, Meta Ray-Ban Display is best understood as a promising situational captioning companion, not a replacement for hearing aids, professional CART captioning, or other dedicated assistive listening systems. The glasses also raise the same privacy questions as other captioning and AI glasses, since they can capture audio—and, in some modes, photos or video—while using a connected app and cloud-enabled features.

Also, Meta’s separate Conversation Focus feature, which amplifies the voice of the person you are facing, should not be assumed to be available on Ray-Ban Display unless confirmed by Meta. As of Meta’s current help documentation, Conversation Focus is listed for Ray-Ban Meta glasses and Oakley Meta HSTN through the Early Access Program, while Ray-Ban Display is not specifically named in that support article.

However, Meta Ray-Ban Display is yet another promising outcome of the continued partnership between Essilor-Luxottica—the world’s largest vision care distributor that also offers Nuance Audio glasses—and Meta.

For readers interested in Meta’s separate speech-amplification features, HearingTracker has also reviewed Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 smart glasses with Conversation Focus in the HearAdvisor lab.

Modular Alternatives

While the options above are purpose-built for real-time captioning, it’s worth mentioning that some general-purpose smart glasses, like the Even Realities G1 paired with the open-source AugmentOS platform, can also provide live captions and transcription through optional apps. These solutions offer broader functionality alongside captioning (e.g., translation, navigation, productivity tools) and may require more setup.

HeARsight / ActiveLook: Availability Unclear

Previously, we’d listed HeARsight was previously as an app-based captioning solution designed to pair with ActiveLook-compatible AR eyewear, including MICROOLED/ENGO glasses. The concept was promising: spoken words would be converted into real-time subtitles that could appear either on a smartphone or in the wearer’s field of view through compatible AR glasses.

However, availability is now unclear. ActiveLook still lists HeARsight as a speech-to-text application, and an iOS App Store listing for Hearsight remains accessible by direct link, but the app appears to require an existing Hearsight account and has not shown a visible update since November 2024.

ENGO’s current consumer materials focus on sports-performance data, Garmin, Apple Watch, Suunto, and training metrics rather than HeARsight captioning support. For that reason, we no longer list HeARsight as a primary consumer captioning-glasses option. Readers interested in the product should confirm current app access, account requirements, hardware compatibility, and support directly with HeARsight, ActiveLook, or ENGO before purchasing hardware.

What’s Next from Google, Apple, and Other Big Players?

While the dedicated captioning glasses covered in this article are specialized devices focused on accessibility, tech giants like Google and Apple are making significant strides in real-time transcription eyewear as part of their broader wearable technology and accessibility initiatives. We've already covered the Meta's Ray-Ban Display glasses above, but here are some others to watch.

Google is also moving quickly into AI eyewear through Android XR and Gemini. In 2025, Google demonstrated prototype Android XR glasses that could use microphones, cameras, speakers, and an optional in-lens display to provide contextual help, including real-time language translation—essentially “subtitles for the real world.”

In 2026, Google and Samsung gave a first look at new intelligent eyewear created with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. These glasses are designed as phone-connected AI companions that can respond to voice commands, provide navigation help, summarize notifications, translate speech, translate text on signs or menus, and capture photos. Google says audio glasses will launch first, with display glasses also part of the broader Android XR roadmap.

While audio-only smart glasses may offer AI assistance, translation, and open-ear audio features, they do not provide the same visual captioning experience as display glasses. The more relevant long-term development is Google’s display-eyewear roadmap—where real-time captions and translations could appear directly in the wearer’s field of view.

Xreal Project Aura: Multipurpose XR Glasses, Not Captioning-First

Xreal’s Project Aura, developed with Google for Android XR, is another example of where the market is heading. Rather than being designed specifically for hearing accessibility, Project Aura is a multipurpose XR device built around Android XR, Gemini, and transparent display technology. It’s more likely to be positioned for productivity, entertainment, navigation, translation, AI assistance, and app-based spatial computing.

For people with hearing loss, Project Aura and similar multipurpose XR glasses might become useful if captioning apps such as XRAI, live translation tools, or Android accessibility features are well supported. But as they’re positioned now, they’re more like general-purpose display glasses than dedicated captioning glasses.

Apple Vision Pro and Possible Future Apple Glasses

Apple’s Vision Pro headset already includes Live Captions, allowing users to see real-time transcriptions of spoken audio from apps, FaceTime, podcasts, and nearby conversations. While that technically makes Vision Pro relevant to our review, let’s face it: its size, price, and headset-style design are very different from the other smart glasses covered in this article.

Apple has not officially announced consumer smart glasses. However, given Apple’s accessibility track record and the company’s existing Live Captions features across its ecosystem, it would not be surprising if future Apple eyewear eventually included live captions, translation, and other communication-support features.

So What Will Future Captioning Glasses Look Like?

The most likely future is not a single winner, but a split market. Dedicated captioning glasses may continue to serve people who want a focused communication tool, especially if they prioritize simplicity, privacy, offline use, or hearing-accessibility support. At HearingTracker, we also think there is a great opportunity for hybrid captioning + hearing glasses to provide both amplification and live-captioning, and captioning glasses and related apps may emerge as assistive devices in combination with traditional hearing aids.

Meanwhile, mainstream AI glasses from Meta, Google/Samsung, Apple, and others should bring live captions to a much larger audience as part of a broader package of navigation, translation, messaging, photography, and AI assistance.

For consumers with hearing loss, the key questions will remain practical ones: How accurate are the captions in noise? How quickly does speech appear? Does the device work offline? Is it comfortable enough for all-day wear? Can it handle prescription lenses? What happens to recorded audio or transcripts? How expensive is it? And is captioning a core feature—or just one experimental tool inside a much larger smart-glasses ecosystem?

Captioning Apps Are Also Extremely Useful!

While this article focuses on glasses that provide real-time captioning, some of the apps mentioned above can also be used independently on your smartphone. In addition, several standalone speech-to-text captioning apps offer fast, reliable captions and can be a handy option for live captioning on the go.

Check out:

• NALscribe: live captions (Apple iOS only)
• Google Live Caption-AI Voice to Text (Android only)
• Google Live Transcribe and Notification (Android only)
• Ava (Android and Apple)
• Hearing Helper - Live Captions (Apple iOS only)
• Otter: Transcribe Voice Notes (Android and Apple iOS)
• Transkriptor - Speech to Text: Android and Apple iOS

HearingTracker has also published an article about the best apps for people with hearing loss.

Technology for hearing accessibility is changing fast. Also related to eyewear (but not captioning), you might also be interested in checking out the emerging category of hearing glasses, which includes the new Nuance Audio OTC hearing glasses.

Privacy and Data Handling Considerations

Since captioning glasses rely on capturing real-time audio, sometimes processed in the cloud, they raise understandable privacy concerns. These devices may pick up private conversations, and depending on the provider, transcripts could be stored locally or online.

Mainstream AI glasses add another layer to the privacy discussion. In addition to capturing speech for transcription, some products may include cameras, cloud-based AI features, messaging integrations, and account-based data settings. Users should understand when audio, images, video, or transcripts are processed locally versus in the cloud, and whether bystanders are clearly informed when recording or AI features are active.

It’s important to know where your data goes, how long it’s kept, and who can access it. Some providers may also share data with third parties—so checking the privacy policy is key.

Tip: Before using any captioning glasses, review the privacy policy, check if your data is encrypted, and see whether you can disable cloud features or opt out of data sharing.

Captioning Glasses Today and Tomorrow

All captioning glasses should be viewed as communication support tools rather than as a replacement for hearing aids, cochlear implants, professional CART captioning, or assistive listening systems. The glasses may be especially helpful in one-on-one conversations, small groups, appointments, restaurants, meetings, or family gatherings, but captioning accuracy and speed can vary with speaker distance, overlapping talkers, background noise, accents, and internet/app performance.

However, the world of captioning glasses is moving fast. With new hardware and software updates being rolled out regularly, these devices are becoming increasingly versatile and user-friendly. As Xander’s Alex Westner notes, “I expect captioning glasses will continue to evolve physically to address the different needs, usage goals, and individual sensitivities of users.”