AI Case Study
Google launches two apps for the hearing impaired on its Android phone
Google Android has launched two new apps to aid hearing impaired users. One is Live Transcribe which translates from voice to text on the user's phone.
Industry
Technology
Internet Services Consumer
Project Overview
Google's Accessibility team has launched beta versions of two new apps for the Android phone, designed to make things easier for the hearing impaired. Live Transcribe is "an app that takes real-world speech and turns it into real-time captions using just the phone’s microphone... [it] is available in over 70 languages and dialects. It also enables two-way conversation via a type-back keyboard for users who can’t or don’t want to speak, and connects with external microphones to improve transcription accuracy."
The second app, Sound Amplifier, works on the "Android smartphone with wired headphones to filter, augment and amplify the sounds in your environment. It works by increasing quiet sounds, while not over-boosting loud sounds. You can customize sound enhancement settings and apply noise reduction to minimize distracting background noise with simple sliders and toggles."
Reported Results
Just launched; results not yet available
Technology
Speech recognition and transcription using machine learning; details undisclosed.
Function
R And D
Product Development
Background
"The World Health Organization estimates that by the year 2055, there will be 900 million people with hearing loss."
Benefits
Data
Audio captured by the Android phone microphone