Coffey & Code Let's Talk Augmented Reality Innovation: Captioning the World with Alex Westner
Episode #47: Let's Talk Augmented Reality Innovation: Captioning the World with Alex Westner! Augmented Reality is changing the way that we interact with the world around us & offering innovative new ways to present information. Enter XanderGlasses: Smart glasses that display real-time captions of what other people are saying. Alex Westner founded Xander, setting its vision on providing relief for the 1.5 billion people around the world who struggle with the effects of hearing loss. Xander's company mission is to CAPTION THE WORLD & they are doing it!
The caption display is inobtrusive, allowing the wearer to follow conversations while looking directly at the speaker and surroundings. XanderGlasses allow people who are Deaf or hard of hearing to clearly understand who is speaking to them, whether at home, work, or in a noisy public venue. This helps people feel more confident and relaxed during conversations. Xander underscores the sentiment of 'We all have a need to understand and be understood.'
Alex began his career in engineering, researching microphone arrays and the “cocktail party problem” at the MIT Media Lab—getting computers to pick out individual voices in a room. He spent 18 years as a product leader in audio and music technology companies, shipping successful products that try to analyze and understand sound. One standout, “iZotope RX,” became known as the Photoshop for Sound, and earned an Engineering Emmy Award, and is an industry standard tool.
In the last several years, searching for something deeper and more meaningful, he immersed himself in the most profound human problem related to audio — people who have trouble hearing altogether. He founded Xander, setting its vision on providing relief for the 1.5 billion people around the world who struggle with the effects of hearing loss.
XanderGlasses is the recipient of the 2023 CES CTA Foundation Award
Learn more about Xander & XanderGlasses by visiting https://www.xander.tech/
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Thanks for listening!
-Ashley Coffey
EPISODE CREDITS:
Produced and edited by Ashley Coffey. Cover art designed by Ashley Coffey.
Headshot by Brandlink Media
Introduction music composed and produced by Ashley Coffey
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