With all the technological advancements that we’ve seen until now, we know that such breakthroughs can do miracles. Smartphones have now become a great tool for the hearing impaired. They facilitate most of the social interactions owing to speech perception.
More than 90% of people with hearing disabilities use smartphones every day in developed countries. There are plenty of apps available today that eliminate most of the communication barriers. These are the obstacles that make the daily lives of the hearing impaired quite difficult.
The smartphone apps for the deaf in recent times help people with hearing disabilities get in touch with others. They can also communicate with ease using these apps. Here, we’ve listed the most popular apps that the hearing impaired must have in 2022:
1. Ava
This is an instant transcription app. It transcribes the words from a group of people in the live mode. All the participants need to install the app on their smartphones. Then, the transcription of conversations takes place while using a microphone. Ava allows the deaf and individuals hard of hearing to follow a conversation that takes place within a group.
They don’t have to lip-read for this purpose. The Ava app is extremely useful for users of iPhone who don’t have access to instant transcription. It is available for both iOS and Android platforms.
2. RogerVoice
In 2013, Oliver Jeannel created a globally-renowned French app called RogerVoice. The app provides its users with two options. In the first option of live transcription, the app supports telephone conversations in over 100 languages. Answering by voice synthesis is also possible with this app. People who are deaf or those who have hearing loss can use the phone to have conversations.
They can converse with the other person and receive a text of what he or she is saying. RogerVoice also offers the facility to make calls. The free version of this app provides one hour of video calls. The deaf or people hard of hearing can also use this app to request information from a distance.
3. Sound Amplifier
This app for Android phones is equivalent to the Live Listen feature in the settings of iPhones. However, there are more advanced functions that you can find in this app. These functions are great when it comes to the removal of background noise and sound volume adjustments.
While using headphones with this app, there’s an enhancement in the audio quality of devices that use Android. Thus, Sound Amplifier offers a more natural and comfortable listening experience. It amplifies and improves sounds from the real world, which helps the hearing impaired.
4. TapSOS
An app from the United Kingdom, TapSOS helps the hearing impaired to connect with emergency services non-verbally. Emergency responders can provide the best care in case of emergencies to the ones who connect using this app. For this purpose, the user needs to create a profile, which includes personal medical history.
TapSOS pinpoints the exact location and sends data in the user’s profile within seconds. The app does this when the user connects with the emergency services. Such is the effectiveness of this app that it had won the 2018 Digital Health Award.