Subvocal - Silent speech-to-text input at 200+ WPM
Show HN: Subvocal – Talk to your computer without making noise
Subvocal lets you talk to your computer without making a sound. By decoding subtle, silent mouthing into text at 200+ words per minute, it turns your thoughts into input for ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Slack, email, and any app you normally type in. Built for trains, quiet offices, and crowded cafes, it doesn't rely on hearing your voice, so background noise isn't a problem. It uses no cameras and doesn't read your thoughts—only words you deliberately articulate. Backed by Y Combinator, Subvocal is designed as a privacy-minded input method, not a separate destination app.
Write at the speed of speech, without speaking out loud—the words go where you need them, and the room stays quiet.
- vessenes
Just preordered -- glasses request: there's no way to say it nicely, I have a big nose. With a high bridge. Many glasses are really tough to get properly placed; may I request you not give up on the pads w/metal adjusters that you have in the product photos? Don't let a designer take them away from you, us folks not one standard deviation from 'normal' noses will thank you.
Second, how tough is this signal processing? Will it be done on-glasses, or through an app? Third, what's the equivalent of a wake word for these? I'm reminded of the Apple Vision Pro radar to see if your fingers are clicking. I could imagine a lot of modalities where I want to just start talking and have things happen, and a lot where I don't want the glasses to pick it up. Fourth, I think a cool voice change demo would be rad -- not sure what latency is like, but if you could get it end to end under like 250ms you could probably have someone exaggerate the mouth movements and pipe out audio of them talking like someone else. Which would be another really cool demo.
Super cool. You're going to be working 80 hour weeks for the next year, I'm excited to see what you put out!
- randomImmigrant
Really cool. I’m especially drawn to this as the time from thought to mouthing the words is so much faster than speaking out loud, for me.
But I’d be concerned both about battery life, and the long term health consequences of having an RF chip so close to my eyes/brain. Have you explored these aspects much?
- apparent
Isn't a "Show HN" supposed to be reserved for things that people can experiment with and give feedback on? This doesn't seem sufficiently interactive, and the sales pitch at the end seems odd for a Show HN, at least to me.
- sourpanda
I think this is incredibly cool and straight out of a sci-fi novel! I think this is phenomenal for accessibility and for hands-free computing in general. I also agree with other comments that the website should have more detail on how it works, such as what you included in the post body. Amazing work guys!
- growt
If the tech is mostly in the glasses temples, I would prefer to have something that attaches to my existing glasses. I have prescription glasses and a big head, tried the Even G2 smart glasses and the available frames set just too small for me
- genxy
Google wanted to put this tech into its phone, but then was convinced it was a bad idea due to privacy invasion. It could for instance correlate sexual arousal with any phone interaction (video chat, youtube, display ads, etc), giving google and advertisers the ability to make custom targeted ads for specific users, as it would "know your type".
Where does inference occur? Does it work offline?
- SkyPuncher
Based on my understanding of the technology, this also means you can effectively dictate in loud environments. Correct?
I find that I need this most often when I'm doing yard work, running equipment, or cleaning out the garage. Audio based microphones pick up so much noise.
- demo4567
Yes.
1. I need my existing glasses.
2. It needs to work offline.
Otherwise this is a no-go