Useful Apps Every Person With Hearing Problems Should Have On Their Phone

People with disabilities are having a much easier time, nowadays, doing things that were not possible a few years ago, thanks to smartphones and other tools. 

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Tech developers are constantly looking for new ways to help those suffering from disabilities like blindness and deafness lead normal lives. In this article, we'll list some of the most useful apps that people with hearing problems should download on their phones.

Controlling Hearing Aids

This is one of the capabilities that people who rely on hearing aids have long wished for. Controlling your hearing aids from your smartphone allows you to quickly and accurately stay reactive to the environment you are in. Instead of having to remove it to manually adjust it, you can create presets and control the volume directly from your smartphone. To be able to use such apps successfully, you need to use smart hearing aids that complement these features.

You can even locate the hearing aids if you take them off and misplace them somewhere.  This type of app uses a map and GPS to help you locate the aids by telling you where exactly it was last connected to the wireless network. Some apps can tell you when you are getting warmer to the location through notifications or UI.

Sound Amplification Apps

While sound amplification apps are no match for sophisticated hearing aids, they can still help those with hearing problems. The professionals at Serene Innovations explain that if you are willing to take it a step further, you can use portable sound amplifiers that directly connect to your phone through an app or via Bluetooth. When you visit the site, you'll be able to read more about the different sound amplification tools you can use. If your hearing aid runs out of batteries or you accidentally lose it, you can use a sound amplification tool to stay alert to the environment and conversation

These apps use elaborate systems that work on reducing background noise and amplifying speech then relaying it through earphones or headphones in real-time to the user. It can even be used as a remote microphone by placing the phone near the subject you want to listen to and using wireless earphones/headphones to hear the sound clearly.

Speech-to-Text Apps

Not being able to hear what a whole group is saying can psychologically impact an individual with hearing loss. To be able to stay in the loop and become engaged in the conversation, you can use transcriber or speech-to-text applications to transcribe audible voice into text. Once you have the app installed on your phone, it will start capturing the audible words in the ambiance around you and transcribe them in real-time into text that is displayed directly on your smartphone. Some apps are specifically designed to help discern and caption each word that is said in a group conversation if they all have the app installed on their phones.

Connecting AI with Hearing Aids

A lot of individuals with hearing problems may have issues with hearing their voice-activated AI systems on their smartphones. Those voice assistants can make a lot of things easier, but if you can't hear them, you won't benefit from their utilities. 

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It's finally possible to use applications that can relay the voice assistant's commands to your hearing aids. You won't be having any problems asking for the weather forecast or translating something the next time you connect those aids with your voice assistant.

Measuring the Loudness of Sound

Not being able to hear well can sometimes cause individuals to speak louder or quieter than they think they are. This is attributed to the effect hearing loss has on one's own ability to discern loud voices from quiet ones. There are some apps that can utilize a smartphone's mic to pick up the decibels in the ambiance surrounding the user. While the measurement may not be as accurate as professional sound instruments, it can be accurate enough to calibrate one's own voice accordingly. It can help a user practice their loudness by distinctively matching a tone that is suitable for the environment's ambiance. In the case of a loud environment, users would be able to know that they should raise their voices a bit more than usual to be heard.

Thanks to the numerous smartphone apps that cater to everyone's needs, people with hearing problems are finally able to engage in smooth communication and enjoy their favorite TV shows, music, and movies no matter where they are. More sophisticated apps are expected to emerge in the coming years as technology continues to progress, and hopefully, the struggles of those with hearing problems will be a thing of the past.

Samuel Daniel

Update 25 September 2020