"Hi Nancy,I am a member of the team that designed Q.  Speaking on behalf of my team, we respect your criticism of the product, but we want to make a few things clear that were perhaps unclear in this article.First, Q is specifically designed for users who already use real-time captioning, or who want to use real-time captioning.  It is a re-design of an existing service.  We recognize that there are many different types of hearing loss and each individual is not going to want or need this device, just like not all people who are hard of hearing use existing real-time captioning services.Second, Q was designed in collaboration with people who have hearing losses ranging from mild to profound, including one of our teammates who was born deaf, wears a cochlear implant, and uses real-time captioning services in both school and professional settings.  We conducted extensive interviews with people who are deaf or hard of hearing, consulted audio-verbal therapists, and talked to practicing real-time captioners.  To clarify, "interpreter" in the article refers to a CART provider or a real-time captioner, not ASL interpreters.  Throughout the design process we showed our prototypes to all of our interviewees, listened to their feedback, and adjusted our design accordingly to make sure it was meeting our intended users' needs and desires.  Q is a carefully considered solution to an existing problem, mainly that captioning - as it exists right now - is extremely expensive, requires advanced planning, and involves setting up cumbersome equipment.  Q is a fraction of the price, requires no advanced planning other than remembering to charge it, and can fit in a pocket.  It makes captioning with stenographers obsolete, and makes captioning easier and more discreet for people who use it.Third, as mentioned in the article, Q does take eye contact and facial expressions into account.  If the person using Q does not want to refer to a transcript, and would rather see the speaker's facial expressions, the user can turn on the Touch Speech feature, which supplements what is being said with tactile (haptic) feedback on the hand, that corresponds to missing or unclear sounds.  In other words, the person using Q can feel what is being said.  It allows them to do this while simultaneously maintaining eye contact, unlike existing captioning devices.  From presentations we have given, we know this is a difficult feature to explain.  If it was unclear, it was because it was not articulated clearly.Fourth, although we admit it is not ideal, the Emoticaptioning feature was the direct result of an insight we gained from talking to people who have hearing loss, specifically with regard to things like sarcasm.  It is not meant to 100% accurately tell someone what emotion is being used, but rather to give some context to an otherwise emotionless transcript.  People who use captioning often review transcripts of meetings or class discussions after the fact and this allows some of the tonal information and intonation to be recorded as well.Fifth, the person using Q is the one wearing the microphone, not the person speaking to the Q user.  To your point, we did not want to ask someone to wear Q in order to be recorded by its microphone.  There is one microphone that is worn by the Q user that can capture the voice of anyone he or she is facing because of its directional microphones.  This is especially good for recording conversations at loud parties because the array microphone captures only the sound from the speaker that the Q user is facing (rather than capturing all of the sound in the room), which makes for a more accurate transcript.  If anyone and everyone speaking to the Q user needed to wear a microphone, then we would have to give out a lot of microphones at parties, which does not make sense.  There is one microphone, and it is worn by the Q user.  Again, if this was unclear, it was because it was not articulated clearly.We want to reiterate that this device is solely intended for people who already use, or want to use, captioning.  It is a replacement for an existing service that desperately needs a re-design."