Now that the internet has connected roughly 40 percent of the world’s population, one of the biggest barriers still standing in the way of international communication is language, but that could soon change if devices like the upcoming Pilot earbuds live up to their promise.

Pilot, which is being developed by Waverly Labs Inc, is a small, wireless earpiece that can supposedly translate conversations in real-time.

“[Pilot] uses the latest technologies in speech recognition, machine translation and wearable tech to allow wearers to converse without language barriers,” Waverly Labs says on its website. “Where other smart earpieces in wearable technology are designed for fitness tracking or audio enhancement, we’re committed to bridging language barriers.”

While users only need to wear one earpiece to hear the translations, Pilot comes in pairs so that you can also use it for music, videos, and other audio tasks people commonly use earbuds for. Pilot will soon be available for pre-order through its IndieGoGo campaign, and the device itself is expected to launch in Spring 2017.

Unfortunately, Pilot will have a limited range of languages at launch. According to Waverly Labs, the device will start out with support for Romance languages (which include languages like French, Italian, and Spanish) and Germanic languages (which include German, English, and Dutch). The company says it plans on offering other world languages via downloadable language packs at a later date.

Waverly Labs is not the only company working on real-time translation. Google Translate already provides similar functionality through its phone app, and some programs like Skype offer their own native translation capabilities.

The key difference with these programs is that they translate spoken language to text, while Pilot translates directly into your ear, making for an easier hands-free experience.

You can watch a video showing Pilot in action below:

Image courtesy of Waverly Labs Inc