In addition to a smartphone’s built-in accessibility features, apps are a great way to increase your device’s accessibility. HeardThat is a new app available for individuals with hearing impairments.
Noisy environments can be daunting for individuals with mild to moderate hearing loss. According to its website, HeardThat is a “game-changing” hearing assistive smartphone app that is “revolutionizing the way we communicate in noisy situations.”
The HeardThat app helps users hear speech more clearly by turning their existing smartphone into a powerful hearing assistive device. Once it’s installed, simply connect your hearing device to your phone, start the app, and put the phone on the table with the top pointing toward the person you want to hear. It separates speech from the noise and delivers only the speech to your ears!
The app’s website goes on to explain its technology:
While many attempts have been made to improve the long-standing issues with speech in noise, none have yet offered a reliable solution. Machine learning, however, is a new approach that has resulted in the first major breakthrough in many years.
What is the difference between the traditional approach and machine learning? It comes down to this. What’s true for humans is also true for computers: it’s hard to precisely define what noise is, but you know it when you hear it.
HeardThat App Overview:
- A revolutionary app that “breaks down communication barriers of hearing loss and helps you get back in the conversation”
- The app is available on both iOS and Android devices
- For individuals with mild to moderate hearing loss
- Traditional methods try to define noise mathematically so it can be identified and reduced
- Machine learning listens to a lot of speech, a lot of noise, and a lot of speech in noise until it learns the difference
Click here to learn more about the technology behind the app!