Technology assists people with everything from communication, to entertainment, to transportation.
While technology simplifies many things, it also complicates others, particularly for the hard of hearing.
That’s why myself and the team at Clarity Hearing are excited to see tech giants making great strides to assist those with hearing loss.
Android smartphones, in particular, are now equipped with new features to make life safer and easier for the hard of hearing.
Enhancing Safety
Sound Notifications is the new Android feature that provides push notifications for critical sounds. This feature is designed, so people with hearing loss don’t miss an important cue like a fire alarm, baby crying, dog barking, or doorbell ringing.
In addition to loud sounds, it also picks up softer sounds like water that was left running. It’s adaptable to your preferences and can flash a light, vibrate your phone, or send text notifications.
It can even vibrate your wrist when wearing a compatible device like Google’s Wear OS.
This setting is especially helpful when you’re asleep, providing extra peace that you won’t sleep through an emergency.
You can also view a timeline of sounds to interpret a series of events, such as a smoke alarm, followed by your dog barking.
Our team would be happy to demonstrate this feature on your phone and to inform you of other tools like fire alarms with strobe lights, vibrations, and sound emissions for safety.
Enhancing Communication
Google also unveiled a feature to improve communication for those with hearing loss.
Live Transcribe is a new app that uses your phone’s microphone to turn speech into text captions.
It’s available in 70 languages and includes a type-back keyboard for those who are unable to speak.
It improves upon the CART service in which a captioner virtually joins meetings to transcribe and display a dialogue on the screen. CART helps the hard of hearing, but primarily informal meeting settings, so Live Transcribe broadens opportunities to communicate.
Of importance, this feature was shaped in part by Dmitri Kanevsky, a Google research scientist who has been deaf since birth and has worked on communication technology for 30 years.
Several advanced settings on both hearing aids and smartphones now enable hearing in any environment.
Call us to learn more!
Enhancing Convenience
Sound Amplifier is a new development from Google that makes hearing more convenient.
We can’t always be in a quiet, secluded area when we communicate, so this app uses headphones to filter and amplify sounds you’re trying to hear. It increases quiet sounds rather than loud sounds, so you can decipher conversations, music, or movies that you’re listening to.
It has custom enhancements like background noise reduction so you can focus on certain sounds.
Now, you don’t have to find a quiet area to hear the meeting, Zoom call, or podcast you’re tuning in to.
With Clarity Hearing’s state-of-the-art hearing devices, you can stream music, TV, and phone calls directly to your hearing aids.
The hearing industry has made tremendous advances in technology.
Hearing aids are now vastly capable and virtually invisible, greatly enhancing the quality of life. We’re thrilled that tech corporations like Android are joining in those advances.
For further insights about how to link up your hearing aids to your smartphone, contact our team!
We look forward to removing any obstacles to optimal hearing.
