Hearing loss is something we cannot ignore. The number of people who face a hearing loss problem is increasing day by day. Without the help from the technology, nor hearing aid, or a professional help from the medical professionals, one can go nowhere. Technology has made things easier for us. We can easily install some applications on our phone and use them whenever we want by connecting them to our phone’s Bluetooth headsets. Some of these apps are capable of enhancing your voice and making it louder than normal tone so that you can listen to every word with ease and clarity; others may include real time translation apps that instantly provide you with the translation of one language to another language. This may be of great use especially if you are hearing impaired, but you still love to travel to different countries around the world and visit new places.
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Best Apps For Hearing Impaired
AVA
Lip reading can be harder in a group of people and this is one of the main reasons AVA was created. If a person who is deaf or who has hearing loss is with a group of friends, they can get those friends to connect to the app – then the person(s) who has hearing loss will see live transcriptions of the group conversation.
The speech is picked up using the phone’s microphone and on screen the name of the person talking is displayed in front of what that person says.
How can technology help my D/deaf or hard of hearing employee?
Discover our Don’t Disable Me training course series that focuses on the lived experiences of people with disabilities including those who face hearing barriers. In the course, you can learn first hand how technology can support those who are D/deaf or hard of hearing at work, in study and day-to-day life.
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Rogervoice
Rogervoice is an app which produces live transcription during phone calls in more than 100 different languages. People who are deaf and those who have hearing loss, or someone who has difficulty speaking can use the phone to have a conversation with someone, and receive a typed text (on their phone) of what the other person is saying.
Voxsci
Voxsci is a speech-to-text app which translates voicemail messages into texts and emails which can be saved, searched and shared. Costs start at £5 a month for 30 voicemail texts or emails.
TapSOS
This highly useful app won last year’s AbilityNet Tech4Good Digital Health Award. It offers a way for people who are deaf and those who have hearing loss to communicate with emergency services without needing to speak or listen. TapSOS is very visual and works by the user tapping the screen to select which options they need.
While originally designed for people who are deaf, it is also useful for people with breathing difficulties or those in situations being held against their will when contacting the emergency services, such as the police.
TapSOS stores the individual’s medical history and pertinent personal information on their device, delivering this directly to the selected emergency service. It also uses GPS to pinpoint the user’s exact location.
Braci Sound Alert
Braci Sound Alert app lets you record the sounds in your environment and then gives you visual and vibrational alerts on your smartphone when it recognises them. For example, it can alert you when an alarm goes off or when a doorbell rings.
Can technology help in higher and further education?
Absolutely! Learn how assistive technologies can help students and professionals learn and teach more effectively in our how to use assistive technology in higher and further education training course.
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Signly
It might be assumed that written information is the best way to communicate with people who are deaf. It’s not always understood by the general population that learning to read means connecting what a word looks like to how it sounds and so reading can be more difficult for people who are born deaf, particularly when that person is still a child.
The Signly app was set up to offer people who are deaf, or who have hearing loss another option for understanding written or visual information. The app was first used at the Roald Dahl museum in the UK. Visitors to the museum point their phone at exhibits and are offered videos on their smartphone which display sign language descriptions of the exhibitions. The app is also used by Network Rail and has had trials with Lloyds Banking Group to offer those companies’ deaf customers more information on awareness raising campaigns or leaflet content, for example.
Signly also has an audio layer which is useful for people with sight loss.
Apps for communicating with the deaf
5 essential apps for deaf and hard of hearing people
Once the phone is set up correctly, it is time to focus on installing applications according to usage. We have selected for you 6 free and useful apps to gain accessibility in 2022 and communicate easily with deaf and hard of hearing people.
Ava
An instant transcription app that transcribes in live the words of a group of people. Each participant installs the application on its smartphone and using the microphone the conversations are transcribed. This app allows people who are deaf or hard of hearing to distinctly follow a conversation within a group without having to lip-read.
Useful for iPhone users who don’t have access to the famous instant transcription native functionality from Google during your consultation meetings.
Available on iOS and Android.
RogerVoice
The world famous French application created in 2013 by Olivier Jeannel offers two options.
The first is the live transcription of telephone conversations in more than 100 languages as well as the possibility of answering by voice synthesis. People who are deaf and those who have hearing loss, or someone who has difficulty speaking can use the phone to have a conversation with someone, and receive a typed text of what the other person is saying.
The application goes further by offering to make calls thanks to the help of qualified LSF Interpreters graduates and Graduated LPC coders (in France only). A free version offers up to one hour of call by video interpreter assistance.
An useful app for deaf or hard of hearing people who want to request information about your venue from a distance.
Available on iOS and Android.
Sound Amplifier
The Sound Amplifier app for Android is the equivalent of the Live Listen option included in basic iPhone settings. However, it offers more advanced functions in terms of sound volume adjustments and eliminates background noise.
The Sound Amplifier app improves the audio quality of Android devices when using headphones, to provide a more comfortable and natural listening experience. The Sound Amplifier app enhances and amplifies sounds from the real world.
This application can be very useful if your venue has a poor sound environment.
Available on Android. Note that the Sound Amplifier application is part of the native settings of Google Pixel phones.
TapSOS
The British app Tap SOS allows deaf and hard of hearing person to connect with emergency services in a nonverbal way. By creating a profile that includes personal medical history emergency responders can give the best care in the event of an emergency.
When connecting with an emergency service, the app pinpoints the exact location and send all the data stored in the user’s profile in seconds.
The app won the 2018 Digital Health Award as the best effective method for all smartphone users to contact the emergency services in situation of distress.
Available on iOS and Android.
Subtitle Viewer
Using the smartphones’ microphones, the Subtitle Viewer app offers deaf and hard of hearing people the possibility of viewing subtitles in different languages live on the user’s phone. The subtitles are displayed in real time and the text passage is highlighted.
The application synchronizes with television and movies at the cinema. Other similar applications are available on the market and can accommodate hearing impaired people in your cinemas if the movie screenings are not captioned.
Conclusion
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