These Tiny Earphones Translate Between 15 Languages Using AI
Acer
Language translation is one of the more compelling uses for AI and machine learning tech, and Acer has built it into a pair of earphones, the Acer AI TransBuds. Well, sort of.
The Acer AI TransBuds look much like a fairly ordinary pair of open ear headphones, one of the most recent design trends in wireless pairs, but they are made for AI-powered 'two-way voice translation.'
And the idea is only one person needs to wear the Acer AI TransBuds. That doesn't entirely make sense until you hear these earphones also rely on a wirelessly connected phone or tablet, which can display the 'live captioning and transcription' results, perhaps while the wearer gets an audio translation.
It's this connected device that presumably does all of the real work of translation — most likely via cloud compute — as a pair of earphones is unlikely to be able to hold the processing and battery power required for full on-device translation for some time still.
The Acer AI TransBuds have tiny 50mAh batteries, and include a charging case just like a regular true wireless pair. They support Bluetooth 5.4 and have an ear hook design, which is necessary because the actual bud parts don't have an IEM-style tip or even the classic style of earbud designed to rest behind the ear's tragus.
That's deliberate, to stop them from blocking you hearing what the other person is saying, even if you can't understand them.
Acer says the AI TransBuds support 15 languages at present. And while these are not specified, they are described as 'major languages spoken across Asia, the Americas, and Europe.'
The Acer AI TransBuds are not quite as revolutionary as they may seem from a one-sentence description, but it is refreshing to see a household name take on what is still quite a niche area of tech.
They might be compared to the Vasco Translator E1 earbuds or the Timekettle M3 Translation Earbuds. All three pairs operate using the same concept, pairing to a smartphone app in order to provide translation.
This also means the real worth of the Acer AI TransBuds is in the part Acer has talked little about so far, the software.
Acer also has not yet revealed when the AI TransBuds are planned for a release, or where they will be marketed.
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