I put AI translation headphones to the test in conversation with my Greek fiancée
“Wait, what does that mean?”
My Greek fiancée and I often have moments like this when we’re talking, despite her being fluent in English and me learning Greek. It got me wondering: If artificial intelligence can translate languages in real time, could a pair of headphones actually let two people have a conversation without constantly stopping to explain things?
The only way to find out for sure was to put it to the test.
The new Timekettle LiveTalk earphones are designed for everyday conversations, with the earbuds combining real-time audio translation with AI-powered conversation summaries. But how good are they in a real conversation? I wanted to find out.
Can AI translation headphones break language barriers?
How it works:
The product allows for a two-way translation where each person wears one earbud while talking, which the company recommends for longer conversations.
Advert
It includes an accompanying app that can follow along with your conversation, providing a real-time chat summary as you go, so if there’s anything you miss, you can view it immediately.
The system boasts 53 languages and 107 accents, which could prove to be revolutionary for avid travelers.
The test:
I wanted to make this as close to a normal conversation as possible, so neither of us prepared what we were going to say beforehand.
We decided to try this out so I could speak in English while my fiancée responded in Greek.
At first, there were some hiccups, with the translation in our ears initially playing too fast, which was easily fixed in the settings of the earbuds’ accompanying app.
The next issue we found was the delay of the translation playback, which did make the conversation feel a little stilted. However, after a few minutes, we started to get the hang of talking and pausing, allowing for the AI interpretation to play before responding.
One thing I found was that the AI was able to deal with more than just simple phrases, and instead could quickly translate different sentence lengths and changes in the direction of the conversation.
More importantly, the translations generally made sense to both of us. My fiancée was able to tell when the AI had translated something slightly differently from how she would naturally say it in Greek, but it wasn’t producing the kind of completely nonsensical translations that can make translation tools so frustrating to use.
There were still moments where we had to pause and wait for the translation to finish, and that remained the biggest obstacle to making the conversation feel completely natural.
What additional features come with the Timekettle LiveTalk earbuds?
The earbuds can be modified to tailor what the user needs, with four translation modes including face-to-face (which is what we used), live listening, voice call and multi-media translation, which can prove helpful for things like client meetings and conferences, phone calls, online meetings, videos and courses.
The wireless earbuds last for 35 hours on a single charge and just a 10 minute quick charge can give you up to two and a half hours of use.
Privacy is also a factor, because some conversations may be personal or confidential, and according to the company, LiveTalk uses end-to-end encrypted transmission, is GDPR and FERPA compliant, and user data is not stored or used for model training.
Are the AI translation earbuds worth the money?
After using the LiveTalk earphones for a full conversation, I can completely see why they could be useful for people who regularly communicate across different languages.
At $129, they aren’t going to completely remove the need to pause and wait for a translation, and that delay did take some getting used to, but once we adjusted to the rhythm of speaking, the conversation became much easier.
While it wasn’t completely seamless, it managed to keep up with us surprisingly well - and my fiancée and I were able to hold a conversation in two languages.
If you’re travelling, regularly speaking with someone who uses another language, or simply want to make those conversations a little easier, the Timekettle LiveTalk earphones could be a useful tool to have in your bag.