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by Kelsey Hampson
CAPTIONING APPS
No matter your level of hearing loss, sometimes having captioning available in loud environments like restaurants can make a huge difference in speech comprehension.
Google Live Transcribe – Free, Android only, Google Play Store Link
- Captions external speech and environmental sounds on-screen when app is open.
- Option to type responses instead of speaking aloud.
- Requires constant internet or data connection.
- App is pre-installed on some Android phones.
Apple Live Captions (Beta) – Free, iOS only, built-in app
- To activate, go to Settings > Accessibility > Live Captions (Beta) > Live Captions
- When activated, the feature lives permanently on screen as a semi-transparent circle that can be moved around.
- Tapping on the circle opens the captioning screen, small by default.
- Tapping again reveals four buttons along the top: (from left to right) Minimize, Pause, Toggle microphone, Full screen.
- Toggling the microphone will switch between listening for internal and external sound. External sound (microphone button is white) will caption speech picked up by the device microphone. Internal sound (microphone button is grey) will caption speech outputted by the phone itself (IE the other person in a phone call, videos, games, etc) even if the phone volume itself is muted.
- Does not require internet or data connection to work.
NALscribe – Free, iOS: App Store Link Android: Google Play Store Link
- Captions speech on-screen when app is open.
- Options to switch between light/dark background, change text size, and adjust how often to clear captions for privacy.
- Offers offline mode and 12 additional language models aside from English.
- Conversations can be saved for later viewing/editing.
- Caption text can be shared via other apps.
Otter.ai – Free with In-App Purchases, iOS: App Store Link Android: Google Play Store Link
- Advertised as a note-taking app but captions speech on-screen when recording is started then processes completed recording to separate different speakers and ensure accuracy.
- Subscription based
- Free – 300 recording min per month, 30 min maximum conversation duration
- Pro ($21.99/mo, $168.99/yr) – 1,200 recording min per month, 90 min max duration
Rogervoice – Free with In-App Purchases, iOS: App Store Link Android: Google Play Store Link
- Captions incoming and outgoing phone calls and voicemails.
- Integrates with the device phone app and contacts.
- Subscription based
- Free – 30 min of outgoing calls included upon download as free trial.
- $7.99/mo subscription, 60 min outgoing calls per month within Canada and international, unlimited incoming calls within Canada.
- $39.99/mo subscription, unlimited outgoing and incoming calls within Canada, 120 min international calls per month.
- $14.99 120 minutes top-up purchase, valid for calls within Canada and internationally for 12 months from purchase.
SOUND AWARENESS APPS
Hearing loss can lead to missing important sounds in your environment, but a phone or tablet can listen for sounds and send you immediate notifications so you can answer the door or turn off the tap!
Google Sound Awareness – Free, Android only, built-in app
- Alerts to smoke/fire alarms, sirens, shouting, baby crying, doorbell ringing, door knocks, dog barking, appliance beeping, water left running, or landline phone ringing.
- To activate, open Settings > Accessibility > Sound Notifications > Open Sound Notifications > Accept Permissions (OK) > Select sounds for device to be listening for
- Notifications can be customized to trigger pop-ups, vibration, device flashlight, or notification on compatible Android watches.
Apple Sound Recognition – Free, iOS only, built-in app
- Alerts to smoke/fire alarms, sirens, shouting, car horn, baby crying, people coughing, doorbell ringing, door knocks, glass breaking, kettle whistling, dog barking, cat sounds, appliance beeping, water left running, or custom alarms, appliance, or doorbell sounds.
- To activate, open Settings > Accessibility > Sound Recognition > Sounds > Select sounds for device to be listening for
Lisnen – Free with In-App Purchases, iOS: App Store Link Android: Google Play Store Link
- Alerts to door knocks and fire/emergency alarms, app must remain open for use.
- Subscription based, $19.99/week or $69.99/year
- CHHA Members receive special discount off this price (click here for more information).
SoundPrint – Free, iOS: App Store Link Android: Google Play Store Link
- Measures levels of environmental noise, can search on a map for venues where others have reported varying levels of noise.
Noise – Free, Apple Watch Only (Built-in app)
- Measures levels of environmental noise.
- To activate, open Noise on Apple Watch > Enable
- Alerts to potentially dangerous levels of environmental noise.
- To activate noise notifications, open Settings on Apple Watch > Noise > Noise Notifications > Choose setting
AUDITORY REHABILITATION APPS
These aren’t only good for after cochlear implant activation; they can also be used to help you adjust to major changes in hearing aid programming.
Hearoes – Free, iOS: App Store Link Android: Google Play Store Link
- Excellent game-like therapy, separate progress-based modules, can change voice between male/female and US/UK/Aus accent.
i-AngelSound – Free, iOS only: App Store Link
- Simple ‘pick the word you hear’ but with very good customization options.
PhonicsGenius – $1.29, iOS only: App Store Link
- Similar to AngelSound but with more control over which sounds to work on.
- To enter listening mode, open Settings > Parental Gate > Play Mode > toggle the switch at the top to GAME, otherwise the app is reading/speaking based.
Bring Back the Beat – Free, iOS: App Store Link Android: Google Play Store Link
- Excellent for gradually retraining your brain for music, especially if you have not listened to music for several years.
Cochlear CoPilot – Free, iOS only: App Store Link
- More articles than rehab exercises, excellent for learning ABOUT Cochlear equipment
Speech ID 2 by MED-EL – Free with In-App Purchases, iOS only: App Store Link
- Subscription based, $6.49/month for all content. Free content includes first 3 ‘decks’.