Smartphones have been making our lives easier and better since its inception. Google has been doing a fantastic job helping those with accessibility issues use their smartphones to their fullest by introducing highly functional mobile apps. Yesterday, the global tech giant has launched new accessibility products, a pair of android apps aimed at making communication simpler for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, namely Live Transcribe, and Sound Amplifier.
At present, approx. 466 million people i.e. more than 5% of the global population who are deaf or faing problem while hearing. Therefore, this amazing move by Google introducing two android apps is definitely making lives easier for the deaf community. Now, it’s time to explore both the apps and its features-
Live Transcribe
Live Transcribe, uses the power of Google’s speech recognition to provide real-time transcriptions of conversation to the people with hearing loss. The app offers a simple interface, made of text on a plain background, and it starts transcribing as soon as it’s booted up. It makes it possible for a deaf person to read a text version of what was said in 70 different languages. Users will have the option to enable it in Accessibility Settings, then start Live Transcribe from the accessibility button on the navigation bar.
One of the best features of Live Transcribe is that it doesn’t store what the other person is saying. Moreover, the Haptic feedback feature is present alerts the user if someone behind them is talking and let them control the volume as per requirement.
Sound Amplifier
The idea for Sound Amplifier app was announced in Google’s I/O conference last year, which is now available. The app turns your phone into a hearing aid, by filtering, augmenting, and amplifying sounds. To make it even more useful, best mobile app developers has created in a way that it works without an internet connection, too. For those with reduced hearing who may struggle to hear friends and family while in a noisy environment such as near a road or traffic and or loud music in a bar. The app has two sliders, “boost” and “fine-tuning,” to zero in on the sounds the user wants to listen to.
This is not the first time for the company doing such kind of effort, Google has been working on improving accessibility for the disabled for the past six years. In 2018, Lookout app was introduced. This app helps people with visual impairments by providing auditory cues to help them understand their environment.
Both Apps are Available on Play Store
Both the apps are now available for download on the Google Play Store for download. It is important to note that Live Transcribe only works on phones with Android Lollipop and newer versions, while Sound Amplifier will be supported on phones running Android P and above.
Also, these two apps come pre-installed on Google Pixel 3 Smartphones.
