ATU732 – NuCaption with David Keeler

Hi, this is David Keeler and I’m the Vice President of Sales for New England Low Vision and Blindness, and this is your Assistive Technology Update.

Hello and welcome to your Assistive technology update, a weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist individuals with disabilities and special needs. I’m your host, Josh Anderson, with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. Welcome to episode 732 of Assistive Technology Update. It is scheduled to be released on June 6th, 2025. On today’s show, we are super excited to welcome David Keeler. He’s the Vice President of Sales for New England Low Vision and Blindness, and is here to tell us all about the NuCaption.

We’ve got a story about a device coming out of Israel. We have a story about an accessibility upgrade here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum and a visit from our friends at BridgingApps. As always, listeners, we thank you so much for listening. Now let’s go ahead and get on with the show. Listeners, we are super excited to announce that we have another INDATA Full Day Training coming up on Thursday, June 26th. We’ll be hosting assistive technology for the K-12 environment. This training will be 100% free, 100% online via Zoom. You can go to our website at EastersealsTech.com and register for the training there. I will also put a link down in the show notes.

This training will feature members of our Atlas staff going over some different assistive technologies that can help individuals with disabilities in basically the K-12 environment with all kinds of different learning and access needs. We’ll also have some special guests joining us talking about universal design for learning, tools for individuals with certain disabilities, as well as how to and where to include assistive technology in the IEP process. For a full agenda as well as to register for the training, visit us at EastersealsTech.com, go to Full Day Trainings, and you can find the link right there.

I will also put a link to that page down in the show notes so that you can easily register for our upcoming INDATA Free Training on Thursday, June 26th, 2025. Again, this training will be over assistive technology for the K-12 environment. It is 100% free and 100% online via Zoom. We hope to see you there. Listeners, we got a story out of ISRAEL21c and this is titled Assistive Listening Update for the Digital Age. Talks about a device or a company called Bettear, I guess I’m just going to call it that. It’s B-E-T-T-E-A-R, is the name of the company. Essentially this is an audio system that’s to be used in concert halls, museums, theaters, universities, and other venues in 60 countries already.

It’s only a five-year-old company, it says here, and it was actually made to make large venues… We’ll just use concert as an example because that’s used during a lot of the information here, but something to make concerts more accessible to individuals who are hard of hearing. And it talks a little bit about how the company started and why. And as it really started out as an app-based device. So you would put this app for Bettear, again, I’m not positive I’m pronouncing it correctly, but B-E-T-T-E-A-R. You put this app on your phone. Then they would install their system in the venue and essentially would send very high quality audio over Wi-Fi to your device.

Your device would then connect to your hearing aid, your cochlear implant, or even just your headphones maybe that you have, and you could get the information streamed straight to there. What I really like is as they talk about the app, they pretty much made it where you push a button, you don’t have to do a ton of stuff, you don’t have to dive into your settings and really try to connect a bunch of stuff. You essentially just push a button, it finds that Wi-Fi information and boom, you’re connected and you’re going. Now for a long time, venues have had things like this. They may have FM loop systems or other audio loop systems.

These are usually kind of either high latency or maybe they don’t have the best sound quality, but it says the new product line from them is based on Auracast. And that is a new Bluetooth protocol that enables high quality, low latency audio streaming directly to headphones, hearing aids, or cochlear implants. And users don’t even need to download an app. So if you really think this could even help if maybe you’re easily distracted by other noises. So if you think of a concert, man, you’ve got people screaming. I always seem to be next to the person that wants to sing along to everything and man, if I want to hear bad singing of the songs I like, I’ll listen to me sing them.

I don’t necessarily want to hear the person next to me. So this could even kind of have you directly stream the sound from the stage to headphones when you are on the water in the back row or far away or maybe in not the best sounding part of the area. And then to maybe even make them a little bit more accessible, you could have these headphones be rentable or even able to be borrowed at different places. It even talks in here in looking to kind of expand in new markets, public transportation stations, airports, shopping malls, other public spaces where maybe alerts or other kinds of sounds could be very important to have that information, but which may not be fully accessible to individuals who are hard of hearing.

So I will put a link to this over in the show notes so that you can really check out some of the really cool things that this company’s doing. But it looks like they’re starting to get this all over the world and really be able to help individuals with access to some really great and large things. Pretty much using the things that they already have, even if they do have to kind of put an app on their phone, pushing a button on one app isn’t that much. But as you put it into other systems where this can connect right into headphones, to hearing aids, to cochlear implants, it can really and truly just give a better experience and a lot more access to individuals with just all different kinds of needs.

So very cool story. We’ll put a link to it over the show notes so that you can check it out for yourself. So listeners, here we are in June, which means we just wrapped up the Indy 500 hundred here in Indiana. Now if you’re not from Indiana or Indianapolis, the Indy 500 might not be quite such a big deal. But here, especially if you’re in the Indianapolis area, a small part of Indianapolis known as Speedway kind of changes. So I’m not sure exactly what the population of that small section of Indianapolis is the rest of the year, but around 250,000 extra folks pile their way in there to watch a bunch of extremely quick cars drive fast and turn left for 500 to straight miles.

And while there’s some other races there throughout the year, of course the Indy 500 over Memorial Day weekend is always, always, always the biggest. Kind of a world renowned well-known thing. As somebody who’s lived in Indiana most of my life, I’ve been to quite a few 500s in my time and there’s nothing really quite like it. Just that many folks, that much spectacle. I’ve been in some really great races, seen some very close finishes and really just had some really great times there. But another really cool part of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is their museum.

So they have the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, which over the last few years has went through some major renovations, but what’s really cool is some of these renovations have been made to make it a much more inclusive space. So normally I would give you a link to a story, but I will say the story itself is behind a paywall. Now the paywall is only a dollar a week, so if you want to go back and pay that, you can. But I will put a link to a YouTube video about these updates and changes. But just to go over a few of them, one major change that they made there is there is a racing simulator. So think of the old school, I don’t know, arcade kind of games.

You sit down, it’s got a steering wheel, pedals, things like that. But to make this more inclusive, not only is it wheelchair accessible, so they remove the chair and have a ramp that can come up so that you can actually be up there in a wheelchair. They also, instead of having pedals, have moved it to hand controls so that individuals who are in a wheelchair or have different mobility needs can still access and do this racing simulator. And they’ve done this with a few different kind of items in there. They’ve either moved some things down, put them on platforms where somebody could be raised or lowered to get close and be able to access most of the really cool stuff that’s kind of there, some of the interactive things at the museum.

Also, for folks who might need a little bit of a break from the noise, the sound, everything else, there is a quiet time room. This can also be used as a nursing room for mothers that are visiting the place, but it has been certified sensory inclusive by KultureCity. For individuals who might have some light or sound sensitivity, they can give out sensory bags to folks, which can include things like headphones and other tools for individuals to be able to really and truly enjoy everything this museum has to offer. So we’re going to put a link to this video over in the show notes just so that you can go and check out a little bit more.

But the really cool accessibility feature’s being built into the Indiana Motor Speedway Museum. I do like there’s a part in the video where it talks about, “We have to be ADA compliant because of the law, but we didn’t want to do that. We wanted to go a little bit further to make sure that we’re not just compliant, that folks just can’t access the museum but are actually able to enjoy and be a part of it.” And I can say that I’ve had friends with disabilities, known kind of other folks with disabilities that go to the race every year or most years, and don’t run into too many accessibility issues. As with anything of course, especially like a large event like that.

If you are attending, definitely call and find out maybe some of their accessibility tools or different ways to get around. Do a little bit of research just to make sure that that day is much more enjoyable. And if next year you do plan on coming here to our fine city of Indianapolis and our fine town of Speedway checking out the Indianapolis 500, definitely plan ahead. It is a lot of people on a hot day, but it is a really, really truly fun time. So again, we’ll put a link to this video over in the show notes that you can learn more about these accessibility features at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. Next up on the show, listeners, please join me in welcoming back BridgingApps with an app worth mentioning.

This is Ale Gonzalez with BridgingApps and this is an app worth mentioning. This week’s featured app is called RightHear, Blind Assistant. RightHear is a free navigation tool for users with visual impairments. It helps users easily orient themselves in all environments by providing information about their environment when outdoors and indoors, where Bluetooth beacons are installed. After downloading the app, users just have to open it to hear their current location. If they are not in a RightHear enabled location, i.e. no surrounding buildings have a Bluetooth beacon installed, then the app will start naming what is near them.

If users are within range of a RightHear enabled location, they will hear their current location and what is around them indoors when they turn their phone in different directions. If available, users can also call a local representative for the location they are in through the app, open the business web page, use the lens feature to access third party object recognition apps such as Be My Eyes, Seeing AI, Cash Reader, and Envision AI, as well as know the direction they are walking towards. Clients that trialed RightHear like that the app was easy to use and did not require much instruction. However, there is a great app tutorial video that can be found within the settings.

One client commented that as she walked into a building, she was quickly able to orient herself and find the seating area. She liked that she did not need to use her camera to navigate indoors and that all she had to do was point her phone in different directions to receive information about her environment. RightHear is currently available for both Android and iOS devices and is free to download. For more information on this app and others like it, visit bridgingapps.org

Today listeners, we are super excited to welcome David Keeler to tell us all about NuCaption and how it can help folks with hearing impairments and also individuals with visual impairments with communication. We’re looking very forward to hearing all about it. David, welcome to the show.

Josh, thank you for having me. Really excited to be here.

I am super excited to talk about NuCaption, but before we do that, could you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?

Absolutely. I’ve been in the field of assistive technology since 2013, and I am currently the vice president of sales for New England Low Vision and Blindness. We are an assistive technology dealer located in Worcester, Massachusetts, serving all six New England states for most of the low vision and blindness products that we sell and serving the entire United States for NuCaption, which is our latest product.

Awesome. Well, I guess let’s get right into the reason we’ve got you on here today. What is NuCaption?

NuCaption is a wearable assistive technology that delivers real time speech to text conversion. And so it is powered by the NuEyes Pro 4 Low Vision Glasses and allows the user to see the text directly in front of their eyes.

That’s awesome. I love that it’s built on NuEyes and we’ll get into that a little bit, but as we talk about the captions, I guess my first question is can I adjust the captions, the size, the color, maybe some different settings like that?

There are customizable settings. Everything is powered through the app on the Samsung S20 phone that comes with the product, and so that is, you can adjust the size of the text, so there’s small, medium, and large text. You can adjust the contrast as well as the text color so you can have white, orange, and green and it’s designed to be fully customizable based on the user’s preferences.

That’s awesome. And David, you kind of brought up my next question. So this actually comes with a phone. Can you explain how that works together with the glasses?

Absolutely. The phone in a dual-purpose capacity with the NuCaption, it’s both the power source as well as runs the app for the glasses.

Nice. So I don’t actually have to connect it to my cell phone or anything like that. It just comes in the package.

Correct. The cell phone that is included with the technology does not have a SIM card. So like many technologies, it is intended to be used as part of the assistive technology and not to be activated as a cell phone. If you activate it might cause some interference with some of the app use.

Gotcha, gotcha. So definitely don’t want to have to do that. Well, I guess that brings me to how are the captions generated? Do I have to be connected to Wi-Fi or something since there’s no cell signal?

No, it’s a standalone model. It is not intended to be used with Wi-Fi. The only time it would ever connect to Wi-Fi is for future app updates, which are included. There’s no cost and it is not a subscription model, so the device is standalone. It does not record any conversations. So all conversations are private and secure and everything is generated from the app on the phone and that is what’s doing the transcription.

That’s awesome. That’s great. How do the glasses capture the sound, I suppose, to generate the captions? How is it if I’m sitting there having a conversation and you and I… We’re not sitting in the same room right now, but let’s say we’re sitting in the same room and I was using NuCaption. How are the glasses capturing that sound to give me the captions?

There is a microphone located on the center of the glasses as well as the secondary microphone is on the cell phone. And so there’s two microphones that are capturing spoken text and those are simultaneously converging and transcribing that to the printed text that is appearing on the OLED screens that are on the glasses.

That’s awesome. That’s great. So it gives me almost, I don’t want to say an external mic because I know I’m still connected, but I could maybe put the phone a little bit closer to my person if I’m in a little bit louder maybe environment as opposed to just relying on the one on the glasses as I look at them. Would that be correct?

That is correct.

Awesome. Nice, nice. That definitely opens up some definite doors for folks. David, I just have to ask you, because I know this was kind of built on the NuEyes glasses and can be for folks with maybe not just a hearing impairment who needs captions, but also maybe for a little bit of a visual impairment, how did the NuEyes Glasses work and maybe what kind of accommodations do they offer?

The NuEyes Glasses were originally developed and utilized as a low vision pair of glasses that allowed for zooming in and seeing things magnified on the glasses. And we represented that company when they first came out with the NuEyes Glasses and they have adapted the latest version, which is the Pro 4 for this use based on a company in Canada that had the need to develop a live transcription product for serving the deaf community in Canada.

And so we have a great relationship with the manufacturer who’s located in California, and I think it is worth mentioning that it is a small veteran owned business and the product was designed and is assembled at their location in California. So they adapted the use of the glasses in this environment to be specifically for someone who is deaf, hard of hearing, or deafblind.

Nice. That’s absolutely awesome. And I know we talked a little bit about how the phone is used a little bit for the battery and everything. How long would these last, would the NuCaptions last on a full battery charge?

Four hours.

Nice. Very good.

It’s a good amount of time and you can charge the phone and the only thing you’ll need to charge is the phone, so there is no power source other than the Samsung S20 for the glasses, so you do not need to have a separate charger or charge the glasses separately.

I really like that that comes with it, that I’m not required to have a smartphone with a data plan and run everything through that, but just having everything involved in the package, that’s really cool, especially if I’m relying on my phone. Of course, for other things, I don’t want to probably use my battery to power the glasses as well, and then I’m without both if something would happen. So I love that that all really comes together. David, I’m sure you’ve probably worked with some folks that have used the NuCaption.

Can you tell me a story about someone’s experience with NuCaption that kind of sticks with you?

Sure. I think that one of the first experiences that we had with them was with one of our own teammates who is deafblind. And she was in-house participating in our Christmas celebration and we were having our annual meeting with the team and we asked her to try them out and she was really super impressed by the quality of the transcription and it was based on her recommendation that we said, “We’re going to go forward and we’re going to represent this product to the entire United States.”

Nice. A team member’s seal of approval, you really can’t beat that whenever you’re kind of deciding for things to carry and put across the whole country. David, we talked a lot about the captions and everything. Talk about the situations where this would be a helpful device.

We believe this is best in a one-to-one situation, and what I mean by that is perhaps say in with a healthcare provider or if you’re meeting with an attorney or you’re meeting with anyone one-on-one, you can utilize this technology. It is currently one-way communication so that the user is going to see the transcription on the screen and then needs to be able to require. So it does not and is not intended to replace the need for an interpreter in situations where the communication outward needs to go through someone who speaks ASL.

Sure. Cool. Well, I could see how in presentation or kind of a group setting it might be a little bit different and you kind of brought up, especially with a lawyer, with a doctor because none of that information’s being stored or transmitted anywhere. It’s just kind of coming through and then going away. So I’m sure that’s… Keeping your data private is always very important, always a big concern. So being able to do that and have captions pop right up on the glasses is a very cool thing.

And it’s very natural in that the user will have the transcription coming right up on their glasses so that they can be looking at the person who is speaking and taking in all the non-verbal cues and communication that’s taking place as well.

Most definitely. They’re not looking down or trying to look at another device for captions or something else, or even someone else for clarification. They can actually maintain eye contact and see those kinds of social cues as they’re conversating. So David, since we’re here just talking, there’s just audio, no real video. Can you tell me maybe what the glasses look like, feel like, what the size is, or just describe them to the listeners?

Sure. The glasses themselves look very similar to a traditional set of spectacles that someone would wear. They are designed and intended to be lightweight, they’re compact, ergonomic, and so they’re fully adjustable. You have the ability to adjust the nose piece a number of different ways. And then for those that wear spectacles, you cannot wear glasses underneath or with the product. However, there are two diopter adjustments, one for each eye on the top of the glasses, which would allow for someone to optimize the image on screen.

For listeners who want to find out more, David, or maybe even get some NuCaptions for themselves. What’s a good way for them to do that?

Absolutely. They can go to our website, which is www.ne, so the letter N, the letter E, L-O-W-V-I-S-I-O-N dot com. So they can go to the website at www.nelowvision.com and just type in NuCaption in the search bar and they’ll find the product there. We’ve also included a great eight-minute video on our YouTube page that would show someone how to utilize the NuCaption, and for those that are interested, I am more than happy to schedule a virtual demonstration as well.

Awesome. We will put that link down in the show notes so that folks can easily find more information, get one for themselves, or get one of those virtual demonstrations with David himself. Well, David, thank you so much for coming on today for telling us about the NuCaption. Really looking forward to it because I know that’s just such a need, and then the fact that you can actually have that conversation, keep it private, and really get the accommodations you need is a really awesome thing. So thank you so much.

Josh, thanks for having me. It’s been a pleasure and continue to do the great work that you’re doing in Indiana. It’s so critical that we share this type of information and get the word out there. So thank you again.

Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on Assistive Technology Update? If so, call our listener line at 317-721-7124. Send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org or shoot us a note on Twitter at INDATA Project. Our captions and transcripts for the show are sponsored by the Indiana Telephone Relay Access Corporation or InTRAC. You can find out more about InTRAC at relayindiana.com. A special thanks to Nicole Prieto for scheduling our amazing guests and making a mess of my schedule.

Today’s show was produced, edited, hosted, and fraught over by yours truly. The opinions expressed by our guests are their own and may or may not reflect those of the INDATA Project, Easterseals Crossroads, our supporting partners or this host. This was your Assistive Technology Update. I’m Josh Anderson with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. We look forward to seeing you next time. Bye-bye.