OpenEar — Free Real-Time Captioning for Churches

OpenEar

Every voice deserves to be heard. Every word deserves to be understood.

Free • Open Source • Local • Private

What is OpenEar?

OpenEar is a free, open-source system that provides real-time AI-powered captioning and translation for church services — in 200 languages.

A small computer taps audio directly from your soundboard and uses NVIDIA's Parakeet speech recognition to transcribe sermons in real time, then translates via Meta's NLLB-200 model. Captions stream to any phone, tablet, or display on your local Wi-Fi. No app to install. No account to create. Just open a browser.

Everything runs locally. No audio leaves your building. No internet connection is required during services.

Why it's different

No subscription, no per-minute charges. Free and open source, forever.
No cloud dependency. Commercial solutions like CaptionKit, Wordly, and Sunflower AI route your audio through third-party servers. OpenEar doesn't.
No internet required. OpenEar runs on a local network only — no internet connection needed. Don't have Wi-Fi? A simple $30 router is all it takes.
Clean audio from the source. Taps your soundboard directly — not ambient room noise through a phone mic.
Personal, not projected. Captions appear on individual devices. Those who need them get them, without a distracting overlay for everyone else.
One-time hardware cost — if needed. Runs on a ~$500–$1,000 desktop computer. Many churches already have a machine that qualifies.

"We preach so that everyone can encounter God face to face. When technology can remove the glass, no one should have to pay for the window."

— Rev. Dr. Jonathan Mellette, Pastor & Developer

Roadmap

Version	Feature	Status
v0.1	Proof of concept — live transcription via browser	✓ Done
v0.2	Server-side mic capture from soundboard	✓ Done
v0.3	UI polish, quality presets, admin settings	✓ Done
v0.4	Real-time translation — 200 languages, any device	✓ Done
v0.5	One-click installer	✓ Done
v0.6	Mac Mini / Jetson Orin testing	◐ In progress...
v0.7	Testing at select churches	◐ In progress...
v0.8	Expanded testing & feedback	○ Planned
v0.9	Public release — manually deployable for any church	○ Planned
v1.0	Public release — automatically deployable for any church	○ Planned

The story

OpenEar was built by a pastor who spent a decade as a software engineer before entering ministry. He wanted every member of his congregation to feel fully included — regardless of language, hearing ability, or what resources they had available.

Every congregation deserves accessibility — not just the ones that can pay for it.