DE&S pilot the use of AR glasses for its deaf and hearing loss staff community

The technology allows users to engage directly in dialogue rather than relying on lip reading or a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter being available.

The three-month pilot is taking place at Ministry of Defence (MOD) Abbey Wood, the Bristol-based headquarters of Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) – a specialist procurement arm of the MOD.

Initial feedback is that the £900-a-pair glasses, which can also be configured to translate conversations in over 90 different languages, could transform the working lives of employees in the deaf and hearing loss community.

If successful, the MOD said that the aim will be to roll out the availability of glasses across the organisation, and potentially other government departments, so staff with hearing loss have more options to meet their needs.

Under the £10,000 contract with US-based XRAI Glass, eight sets of glasses will be available to book as a priority by members of DE&S’ deaf and hearing loss community.

Members of the Deaf and Impaired Hearing Network at DE&S attended a demonstration event to hear more about the glasses and try them out prior to the pilot which started on September 30, 2024.

“Having the subtitles displayed in my line of sight will help stop the ‘tennis match’ in meetings as I try and find the next speaker. Other available software for subtitles can be very inaccurate and state things like ‘having a pasty’ when in fact it’s ‘having capacity’,” Catherine Wrigley, who works in Helicopter Safety Governance, said in a statement.

The pilot will look to gather feedback around how the glasses perform in different scenarios including one-on-one, groups and settings where there is significant background noise.

“As someone who does not struggle with hearing, this project has been an incredible learning experience for me and one that has become very important to me,” said Chris Chennell, a senior architect in the DE&S Digital delivery team and the pilot’s lead.

“The initial feedback has been really encouraging, and I’m very hopeful this will prove to be a really positive addition for our staff. The next three months will gather more feedback to help us determine the best way to assist our colleagues with hearing loss, whether it’s through this technology or something else.”