Apples' 14th operating system includes features useful to the deaf and hard-of-hearing.
Sound Recognition, which creates a notification whenever the phone detects common noises like sirens, car horns, doorbells, running water, and appliance beeps.
There's also a "personal audiogram,” which allows you to adjust frequencies based on which ones you are able to hear.
"Real Time Text" conversation has been around—it helps with conversations for those who are nonverbal people. But now users can be doing something else while using the app.
FaceTime calls can now be set so that it will which between signers and not just verbal speakers.
It has been more than two years since New York City officials announced plans to offer 911 texting. It was supposed to happen last year--but now the city says it may actually have it in operation by summer. Deaf advocates say it can't come soon enough. Margaret Arnold, an ASL interpreter, is quoted by the New York Daily News as saying:
I texted 311 services for New York City...I said, ‘I need help, please,’ (The) 311 (operator) said, ‘Call 911.’ I said, ‘I can’t call 911, I’m deaf. What do I do?’ The 311 operator said, ‘I don’t know how to help you.’
There's a new captioning app that will soon be available for Andriod phones that's getting some good reviews. Live Caption works for audio and video. Here's a video that show it in action.
Google has two new Android apps aimed at the deaf and hard of hearing. Live Transcribe is a speech-to-text app that works in real time and Sound Amplifier does what you would expect it to do based on the name—it makes sounds louder. The user with hearing loss puts on a set of headphones and can adjust the app's settings for voice clarity, decreasing the ambient noise, etc. Both apps will be available for free in the Google Play store. There are some limitations though. Sound Amplifier only works on phones with Android 9 Pie and requires an internet connection while Live Transcribe will only be installed on Google’s Pixel 3 smartphones.
Apple offers some help as well: VoiceOver is a free text reader built into iOS. Assistive Touch has vibrations and light flashes to alert users to incoming calls. Of course, FaceTime is used by many members of the deaf community.
Accessibility advocates say the next step for these smartphone tools is to make them coordinate with features like location so that, when you set your phone to a certain ambient noise level at a particular location, the phone will automatically use those setting when you go there again.
Below is a video showing how Live Transcribe works. Read a review of the apps at The Verge here.
UCLA researchers say they've come up with an app that helps deaf parents know when and why their baby is crying. It's called Chatterbaby and "uses artificial intelligence to help determine if baby is hungry, fussy or in pain." Watch the video below for more or read the information here.
Apple is proposing that the Unicode Consortium (which oversees the internet) approve some new emojis to represent users with disabilities. Apples says, "Diversifying the options available helps fill a significant gap and provides a more inclusive experience for all." The National Association of the Deaf helped come up with the new images. Among the proposed emojis:
Service Dog With Vest and Leash
Ear With Hearing Aid
Deaf Sign (Male and Female)
You can customize the font, size, color, and the background pretty easily on most devices. But on an iPhone, the process is different. The same is true for an iPad and Apple TV. You can read a step-by-step guide as to how to do it here.
A free app called Fennex can turn Apple’s AirPods wireless earbuds into audio amplifiers, according to the Switzerland-based company behind the app. It says the app "functions like a 'cheap hearing aid'" which "tests your hearing in each ear and uses those results to act as a personalized, adjustable amplifier." And while a traditional hearing aid will differentiate between sounds and amplify them based on their particular characteristics, Fennex only does this in a rudimentary way. MIT Technology Review has more here and the company's website is here.
The FCC has unanimously voted to move from TTY to RTT (real-time text messaging) as a standard for wireless carriers and device manufacturers. Among other things, the switch will "allow 911 operators to receive incomplete messages during an emergency." You can read the FCC order here or details about the issues including the history of the TTY here.
The U.S. Supreme Court has a no cell phone policy for lawyers. But the justices made an exemption when a group of deaf attorney's were admitted to the SCOTUS bar. They needed to access a CART service "which allows a third party to create a real-time transcript of the proceeding." Read the full story from Bloomberg here.
Money wasted distribution free telephone equipment to deaf and hard-of-hearing people in Louisiana. That's the finding of Inspector General Stephen Street whose just released report details "unnecessary spending on contractors and equipment by the Commission for the Deaf." Read the full story here.
A New England bank has settle an ADA complaint for it's failure to accommodate deaf customers. Patriot National Bank had refused to let a woman use a relay service to conduct business. U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly said, “Individuals who have disabilities must not be denied equal access to
the services offered by financial institutions simply because of their
disability." Read more about the agreement at the website of the US Attorney office for Connecticut here.
UK regulators have fined a British multinational telecommunications company 800,000 pounds for not getting a new texting service up and running for the deaf by last year's deadline. British Telecommunications (BT) claimed technical difficulties prevented it from making the deadline. Read more here.
"Before technology made things easier, sign language users would drop in to deaf clubs so they could have conversations with those who spoke the same language as them," William Mager writes. But things have changed and the producer of the show See Hear speculates as to why things have changed. Read the full story here.
A new Google app promises to translate sign language in real time. No release date has been set yet, but Google Gesture is being developed at Sweden's Berghs School of Communication. The effort has already attracted the attention of the tech community by winning an award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The user wears a band on his or her arm which picks up muscle movements and interpreted by the app, which turns them into audible words. Here's a video explanation.
Back in May we told you about a AT&T's agreement to pay $18 million for not stopping swindlers from taking millions out of a service meant to benefit the deaf. Prosecutors claimed the phone company knowingly asked for reimbursement of calls not covered in the service. You can read the story here. AT&T is now willing to add a few million to that total--$3.5 million to be exact. The deal with the U.S. Justice Department resolves civil allegations under the federal False Claims Act. AT&T still denies the allegations, according to a Bloomberg report, but wants to settle the case.
Former Gallaudet President I. King Jordan says the FCC is "throwing up roadblocks that interfere with the use of (services) mandated by the ADA (because the Commission) is over-reacting to past cases of fraud." Find out more in a piece he wrote for Washington's prestigious The Hill publication here.
A South American ad agency has created a music app for the deaf in it's promotion for an international music festival in Colombia. Every January, for eight days, more than 20,000 music enthusiasts descend upon the picturesque coastal city of Cartagena, Colombia, Cartagena International Music Festival.
In the spirit of the festival's theme “Music Is For Everyone” Y&R Colombia has created the Vibetunes app. It transforms song frequencies into vibrations so deaf people can feel the music in their smartphones. The phone will vibrate along with a song's frequencies to allow the user to experience the beats and intricacies of each song. An Android version of the app is available here. You can see a video promoting the app below.
"Last week, hearing impaired citizens packed a (state) Senate committee room, following along through interpreters, to support HB 238. Senators learned that the $1.9 million to be raised would supply 70 percent of the funding for the Louisiana Commission for the Deaf, which helps pay for interpreter services, hearing aids and other accessibility tools for the deaf, the deaf and blind and the speech impaired with low incomes." Read more here.
