The technology that we surround ourselves with is often designed for our advantage as a human being. We use various technologies in order to make our lives easier but, despite the numerous innovations, there are very few technologies tailored for consumers with disabilities. Technology should also be used to cater to consumers with disabilities in order to fill the gap that has been caused by disadvantages in physicality.
Google has introduced two new apps for Android keeping the same approach towards technology. The apps are designed to help deaf and hard-of-hearing people in their social interactions.
Live Transcribe
Live Transcribe is a live transcription tool for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. The app helps in making everyday conversations more accessible by converting real-world speech, which the app carries through the phone’s microphone, into captions in real-time. Google has made progress with its speech recognition and the app uses that to help people who are hard of hearing in order to provide them with captions in real time.
Live Transcribe supports over 70 languages and dialects. The other advantages of the app, apart from live transcription, is its ability to enable a two-way conversation via a type-back keyboard for users who cannot speak. The app also connects with an external microphone in order to improve transcription accuracy. Live Transcription is currently available in early access limited beta through the Play Store and will come pre-installed in Pixel 3 devices. In order to use Live Transcribe, users will have to enable it in Accessibility Settings, then start Live Transcribe from the accessibility button on the navigation bar.
Sound Amplifier
Sound Amplifier was announced in Google I/O 2018. The app works by enhancing quiet, while not over-boosting loud sounds. The app lets users customize sound enhancement settings and apply noise reduction to minimize distracting background noise. The app comes in handy at places or situations with loud background noise like airports or noisy public areas.
Sound Amplifier is available on the Play Store and supports Android 9 Pie, and comes pre-installed on Pixel 3.