Google launches two apps for Android phones for people with hearing loss

Search engine giant Google has started rolling out two new features for the Android phones on February 4, 2019. The new features will be a boon for the 900 million people across the globe who according to the World Health Organization will suffer from hearing loss by the year 2055. The features are two apps for Android known as Live Transcribe and Sound Amplifier. Both the apps will do what exactly is expected from them.

For instance, the Live Transcribe app takes the real-world speech and turns it to real-time captions with the help of the microphone of the phone. On the other hand the Sound Amplifier will help filter, augment and amplify sounds in the environment around the user. It helps to increase the quite sounds and does not over-boost loud sounds and can also be customized with the help of sliders and toggles that can be used for noise reduction that minimizes distractions in the background.

The Sound Amplifier is available on PlayStore for the Android users while Google has said that Live Transcribe will begin rolling out in a limited beta through the PlayStore. The apps will come pre-installed in the Pixel 3 devices and the users can sign up to be notified when it is more widely available. On the other hand the Sound Amplifier will come pre-installed on the Pixel 3 devices. Google in a company blog post has shown how the apps can be used by spotlighting the work of Dimitri Kanevsky, who is a research scientist at the company who worked on speech recognition and communications technology for 30 years.

Dimitri has been deaf since early childhood and through his work he has helped to shape the accessibility technologies that he relies on. The search engine has also said that the app gives people who suffer from hearing loss or hard of hearing and this will give them a greater independence in their everyday interactions.

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