Best apps for hearing loss – Healthy Hearing

This article is reprinted with permission from the Hearing Health Foundation.

Smartphones have allowed us a degree of freedom and communication access undreamed of in the not-too-distant past. While I have tried out most of these apps, I have also relied on developer descriptions and reviewer feedback that I researched online.

Numerous smartphone apps can assistpeople with communication challengesand hearing loss.

Also, not all apps are available for both iOS (the op…….

This article is reprinted with permission from the Hearing Health Foundation.

Numerous smartphone apps can assist
people with communication challenges
and hearing loss.

Also, not all apps are available for both iOS (the operating system used on iPhones/iPad) and Android (which is the operating system I use on my phone), and while many are free or low cost, both are ever changing, as is the technology itself. Search for these apps by name online for the latest. On iPhones and iPads, apps are found in the App store, and on Android devices, the Google Play store.

Apps for speech-to-text

Google’s Live Transcribe (Android only) is just one of many apps that transcribes spoken audio into text on your smartphone. This app goes one step further and also reports many of the background sounds you hear and how loud they are in relation to the speech it is transcribing. It supports 80 languages and will save a transcript of the conversation for up to three days. Use it with your favorite TV show and you’ll see it’s much faster and more accurate than the captions the show provides. Other options are Speechy (iOS) that converts speech to text and also translates that text into a different language, and Otter.ai (iOS & Android) that can be used with Zoom to transcribe meetings—or any event where there are multiple speakers, such as the dinner table.

For voicemail to text, the Rev voice recorder (iOS & Android) transcribes your voicemails so you can save and read them and organize the recordings (unlike the voicemail transcript that Apple smartphones already offer).

YouMail (iOS & Android) is actually best known as a popular option for blocking robocalls but it also offers a voicemail-to-text feature that is cloud-based, so you can see your voicemail messages on any device.

Personal amplification devices (‘pocket talkers’)

Keep a neckloop or earbuds handy and you can turn your smartphone into a “pocket talker” to amplify sounds you want to hear with EarMachine (iOS), which, in addition to volume control, has a fine-tuning feature that lets the user control which frequencies get boosted, a little or a lot.

Many volume boosters exist, including Max Volume Booster (iOS or Android) and Sound Amplifier for (iOS or Android) —just be careful about overdoing it and damaging your hearing!