[MUSIC PLAYING]
KIRAN KAJA: Google Assistant Accessibility Videos,
Google Home Audio Accessibility Features.
I am Kiran Kaja, and I am the accessibility lead
for search and assistant.
In this video, I'm going to demonstrate
a few of the audio features in Google Home that
might be of interest to users with disabilities.
These features might also be helpful for everyone.
Start and end sounds.
Let's turn on start and end sound.
The Google Home lights up when you say "OK, Google" or "Hey,
Google" to indicate that the Google
Home has recognized your voice and is listening to you.
If you're blind or visually impaired,
you may not be able to see the lights.
Even if you're not visually impaired,
you might be busy doing something else and unable
to look at the Google Home.
You can make Google Home play a sound as soon
as it detects "OK, Google."
[LOW BEEP]
Or "Hey, Google."
You can also make it play a sound
when it stops listening to you.
[HIGH BEEP]
You can turn on these options under
the accessibility settings in the Google Home app.
I'm using an Android phone, the Google Pixel,
running TalkBack screen reader for this demo.
But you can also do this on an iOS device.
There are a number of ways to open up Settings
for your Google Home device.
The best way with a screen reader
is to find the Account tab at the bottom right corner
and activate it.
Then navigate to Local Devices, and open it.
Find your device here, and activate it.
Navigate to Open Device Settings, and activate it.
Now let's find accessibility in this list of settings.
Let's go ahead and turn on these sounds.
PHONE: Play start sound off switch.
On.
Play end sound off switch.
On.
KIRAN KAJA: Now I'll show you how this sounds work.
Hey, Google--
[LOW BEEP]
What's the population of the United States?
[HIGH BEEP]
GOOGLE ASSISTANT: The population of United States
was 327.2 million in 2018.
[LOW BEEP]
KIRAN KAJA: As you noticed, the Google Home played a sound
when I said, "Hey, Google."
[HIGH BEEP]
It also played a sound when I finished talking to it.
[LOW BEEP]
This is helpful to confirm that Google Home has indeed
recognized your voice and is listening to you.
Adjusting equalizer settings.
You can adjust equalizer settings on your Google Home
device, such as bass and treble.
If you have mild hearing loss, tweaking these settings
can be helpful.
You can try these settings from the Equalizer Settings
section in the Google Home app.
Let's go back to the ACCOUNT tab,
and I'll find Google Home under Local Devices.
Now I'll look for the equalizer settings.
You can find a level that works best for you from the bass
and treble settings here.
PHONE: 50% 0 decibels seek control.
Treble, 50% 0 decibels seek control.
KIRAN KAJA: Continued conversation.
Continued conversation is a feature
that lets you have a follow-up conversation with Google Home
without having to say "Hey, Google" each and every time.
You say "Hey, Google" once, and for any follow-up
questions within a short period of time,
you just ask the question without having
to say "Hey, Google."
Google Home keeps the mic open automatically
for a short period after each response.
You need to turn this feature on in your Assistant settings.
Once you turn it on, it will be available across all
your devices running your Assistant.
You can open your Assistant settings
from the Account tab in the Google Home app.
Continued conversation is under the Assistant tab.
I will navigate to it and turn it on.
Let's see how this works.
Hey Google--
[LOW BEEP]
What is the population of California?
GOOGLE ASSISTANT: The population of California was 39.56 million
in 2018.
[LOW BEEP]
KIRAN KAJA: How about Texas?
[HIGH BEEP]
GOOGLE ASSISTANT: The population of Texas was 28.7 million
in 2018.
[LOW BEEP]
KIRAN KAJA: As you noticed, I didn't
have to say, "OK, Google" or "Hey, Google"
for the follow-up question.
You may have also noticed that the start sound has played
at the end of each response to indicate that the Google
Home is still listening to you.
Those are only a few of the many features that the Google
Assistant supports.
You can always ask your Google Assistant what can
you do to learn about over 1,000,000 actions
that your Google Assistant now supports.
For more ways your Assistant can help you in your daily life,
please watch the rest of the videos
in the series linked in the description below.
Thanks for watching, and I do hope
you find these videos useful.
If you have questions, comments, or feedback on accessibility
of Assistant, Google Home, or any other Google product,
please contact us by sending an email
to disability-support@google.com.
You can also tweet us @GoogleAccess.
For a complete list of accessibility support options,
please visit support.google.c om/accessibility.