Losing one of our senses is probably one of the scariest things to ever experience. If you weren’t born deaf, it might be hard for you to adjust to your new norm. When you lose your hearing, you can expect hearing aids to help you, but bear in mind that they have limitations. However, with the help of modern technology, we are now living in an era where apps for deaf people exist such as Live Transcribe, Ava, and TapTap. A properly customized site or a well designed app will help those people communicate and express themselves.
Importance Of Apps For Deaf People
Hearing is an important factor in communicating with other people. Listening is one of our ways to get information before we even comprehend them. If a person is not able to hear, his ability to understand things around him will be affected.
The apps for the hearing impaired have been extremely useful since the advancements in phone technologies began. It helped them become more confident about themselves and allows them to communicate with one click. While it’s true that hearing aids have helped them over the past years before the era of smartphones, the apps are much more helpful in different ways. But due to the advancements in technologies, many of these hearing aids can be connected to phone apps for a better quality of life.
Before the rise of smartphones, deaf people often bring a pen and paper as tools to communicate. But because apps for the deaf have started to emerge, things have become quite easier for them. Most of these apps enabled them to stay in touch with their families and friends despite the distance and disability. People with a hearing disability are now more empowered to soar in their respective careers as their pathways to success have become wider.
Apps For Deaf People
Listed below are the most used apps for deaf people along with their features and advantages:
Google Live Transcribe
Google has recently released an app called Live Transcribe which uses ASR technology to transcribe speech into text right then and there. What makes this app special is that it works for multiple languages- 70 specifically. How does it work? The app is actually great for deaf people who often attend classes or seminars. Live Transcribe works by picking up the speech through the use of a phone microphone and wireless internet. The words spoken will then be transcribed into texts on the deaf person’s phone.
Ava
Ava is another app for deaf people that translates speech into text. One of its advantages is that it can translate group speech, which means you can easily have a conversation with a group of people and understand all of them at once. The app offers a free trial for new users and paid versions for a premium experience.
TapTap
TapTap is an app that is designed for sending alert signals to its user. Sometimes, hearing aids are not enough to alert the deaf person of the sounds around them. This app is especially helpful for people who often walk or jog outdoor. When the app senses sound nearby, it will send an alert through phone vibration or phone flashes, something that could save you if a moving car is close to you.
Rogervoice
Rogervoice transcribes the speech in phone calls into text. It works in 100 different languages and offers assistance to people with hearing impairment. This is a great app for people who often receive phone calls. On the other hand, it’s also helpful for the person on the other line as they won’t have to type everything that they want to say.
Braci Sound Alert
Just like TapTap, Braci sends sound signals to its owner as well. The app works by recording the sounds around you and alerts you when it recognizes certain sounds such as doorbells, car horns, or train warnings.
Signly
For most deaf people, communicating through text is probably the easiest way to converse with other people. However, those who are born deaf actually find it hard to read and understand what each word actually meant. Signly is an app specifically designed for them. This is another option for them to grasp information and understand what the other person is talking about. Moreover, Signly has voice features that cater to blind people as well.
Sprint Relay
If there is an app to transcribe phone calls from other people, there is also an app to help you transcribe the text to relay to the person on the other end. What’s great about this is that the other person can respond to you and the app will automatically transcribe their speech into text. You also have the option to change the font size and color to make the texts more readable.
Furthermore, several apps are now offering features that are deaf-friendly. Netflix, for example, enables a deaf individual to understand movies and TV series with the help of subtitles. They make sure that each show that they release has subtitles that are often available in 2 to 3 languages.
