Did you know that there are a wide range of apps available for both
Android and iOS devices that can significantly improve the quality of
life for anybody who's deaf or hard of hearing?
In this video, I'm going to give you my low down on the top five.
I'm Matthew Allsop from Harley Street Hearing and Musicians
Hearing Services, and I'm all about helping anyone with hearing loss
enjoy the best quality of life by making the most of today's
technology.
So if you're interested in hearing as best as possible, make sure you
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Hit the grey notifications and you'll be updated every time I release a
new video for Bluetooth Hearing AIDS.
Each hearing aid manufacturer has their own version of an app which
you can download and adjust the settings on your hearing AIDS.
This video isn't covering that today, but if you're interested in that, I do
have a video that does cover Bluetooth hearing AIDS, so I'll put a
link to the description above me now and then.
That will give you a bit more of an insight as to why Bluetooth hearing
AIDS are pretty awesome.
In fact, this video isn't to talk about hearing AIDS at all is to talk about
apps that you'll find really useful whether or not you're a hearing aid
user.
If you know of some apps that I don't list in this video, please make
sure you put them in the comments below to share your knowledge
with everybody else that's watching the video ever.
Best Live Transcription This app is available on iOS and Android and
has a free version as well.
This is a great instant transcription app that can give subtitles to any
live situation.
There's a couple of ways in which it can work.
You can either hold it out in front of you and order pick up what's going
on in the scene around you and give you live subtitles.
Or Alternatively, you can set up what's called a room and have
multiple people using the same app and holding it in front of them.
And it will give you a live subtitles of everything that's going on in that
conversation.
So if you're in a busy restaurant and you're finding it difficult to hear the
people sitting in front of you, what you can do is have everybody with
their phones out so that's picking up their voice and it will record the
conversation in front of you.
And so you'll be able to see exactly what everybody say.
And I have to say it's pretty accurate as well.
And also, it gives you the option to be able to record the conversations
so you can always look back and see what's being said and make
sure that you actually followed it correctly.
There are three different versions that you can sign up for.
The free version, which boasts accuracy, and I must say it is pretty
good at that.
There's a premium version which boasts 95 accuracy.
If you want to sign up for that.
You do get 20 minutes free to see if it actually works any better than the
free version.
There's a 15 day trial thereafter.
It's 14 pounds and 99 Pence a month.
Then there's also described version which they boast as being 99%
accurate.
The price varies on the scribe version depending on the number
of hours that you sign up for, but they do take you down the path of
being able to find out if you can be sponsored under the Americans
with Disabilities Act or the Ada.
If your Us based, you do need a solid Wi Fi connection for it to work,
which can be a little bit of a pain sometimes.
But the company that makes it is really customer service focused and
take on board the feedback from all of the comments in the App Store.
And at the time of writing this, it had a whopping 4.3
out of five in terms of its ratings.
Because there is a free version, there is absolutely no harm in
downloading it, having a go with it and seeing if it can improve your
quality of life.
So I definitely recommend giving it a try.
Roger Voice This app works in a hundred different languages and is
great for anybody that can't hear anything at all on the phone.
It uses a live transcribe and provides you with the Typed text of
anything that's being said on the other side of the phone call.
So it goes you subtitle tools for any phone call made.
There are three price points for Roger Voice.
Number one is the free version, which allows unlimited calls to
anybody else that has the Roger Voice app.
So that's pretty.
If you're discussing things with somebody that you know that you
can have, download the app on the other end.
The one hour plan is five pounds and 49 Pence a month, and it allows
again the same as the free version, which is unlimited course to
anybody else that has the app.
It allows inbound calls for one which you don't get with the free
version.
And it allows one hour of course with any landline or mobile for
people that don't have the Roger Voice app.
Also, it allows international calls.
The unlimited plan is the final plan and it's 27 pounds and 49 Pence a
month, so it is quite expensive in comparison to the other plans.
It allows unlimited course to both mobile and landlines, and you get
two hours worth of international calls as well.
I love this app and I would recommend it for all of you to try.
The downside is the subtitle sometimes can be a little bit
sketchy, but the positives definitely outweigh the negatives.
So why not download it?
Give it a go and see if the free version can give you any better
quality of life at.
Sos this app is available on iOS, on Android and cost 99 Pence.
It's designed for you to be able to contact any of the emergency
services without having the need to be able to hear on the telephone.
Using a series of icons, you can contact the emergency services that
you need and also describe the emergency and what's happening
without having the need to be able to speak or hear on the telephone.
The app asked you a few short questions, and all of that data is
sent off to the emergency services so they know exactly what's going
on.
The app then uses GPS to even identify your location, and it sends
a message off to 9-9-9.
Now you can continue to communicate with whichever
emergency services that you've been in touch with to talk about the
problems that you're facing.
This app is a simple yet incredible concept, and before I came across
it, I didn't even think how such a basic concept such as being able to
contact the emergency services could be so difficult for somebody
with a hearing loss.
And so for the cost of 99 pens, I think it's really worth that
investment.
If you are in an emergency situation, the last thing that you
want to be doing is worrying about whether you'll be able to hear the
person on the other end of the phone that you are reporting the
emergency to subtitle Viewer This app is available on iOS, Android and
is free of charge, and it contains a database of thousands of
thousands of subtitles for your favourite movies and the series that
you watch as well.
If you're watching a movie or a series and you hit Play basis, you hit
Play on the subtitles app as well, and what it will do is follow the
movie and highlight the subtitles to the scene that you're on at the
same time.
It isn't automatic.
You do have to synchronise them yourself, and there are a few
different apps available.
The one that I came across gave you three free subtitles to start off
with.
If you wanted to download another one is 99 Pence for each one, or
you can sign up for the full version, which is unlimited subtitles for 6.9.
So if you come across a film on Netflix or you're at the cinema and
you don't have closed captions or subtitles in front of you, you can
simply open up this app and then it will run through them at the same
time.
Sound Alert This genius app is available on both iOS and Android
and allows you to tag sounds in the environment around you.
So it sounds that are in your home environment, and every time your
phone then picks up those sounds, it will send you a notification on
your phone.
For example, if you tag your doorbell and you've got your phone
out your phone Here's that your door Bell has rung, it will then send
you a notification on your phone to alert you of this.
And the great thing about this is there's no need for any the
technology to be installed.
Other than you installing the app on your phone.
Not only will it give you notifications, but you can set the
torch to flash on your phone at the same time.
Plus it will work with your smart watch as well.
And so that can buy break.
So, you know, you've got a notification coming through.
That's just one example, but you can also use it for things like letting
you know when your microwave is done, if your fire alarm is going off,
if somebody's ringing you on the landline.
So it's pretty versatile.
As with all of the other apps, there's both a free version and a paid
version.
The free version allows you to tag all of those sounds yourself.
And as far as I'm aware, the paid version, which is 34 99, has all of
those sounds pre installed, as I recommended with all of the other
apps that I've talked about today.
Download the free version, try it out, see if you can get it to work,
and see if it makes your life any easier.
So there are my five top apps.
I hope you found this video useful.
If you know of any other apps that are out there that can possibly help
the rest of the hard of hearing or deaf community, please put them
in the comments below.
If you like this video, then go ahead and click.
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So I'll see you in the next video.