Google has slowly started rolling out a new app beta for select Android devices that allows a user to get a live transcription of someone speaking to them.
The Live Transcribe app is remarkably helpful for those who are hard of hearing or lack the ability to hear altogether. It uses the smartphone’s microphone to pick up audio and then uses cloud-based automatic speech recognition of over 70 different languages and dialects to translate spoken words into real-time captions that the user can follow along to.
The Live Transcribe app will completely reimagine the lives of those who are deaf since now they do not have to rely on others to “hear” or interpret what is going on. They can now rely on themselves, becoming independent of an interpreter. The app also allows a user to type what they want the app to say for them in the case that they don’t feel comfortable with speaking out loud.
I feel like this is a good move on Google’s part since it shows that they have every consumer in mind when adding accessibility features to their software. The World Health Organization estimates that by 2050 there will be over 900 million people will have disabling hearing loss, meaning that every single person affected can now attain a higher quality of life with this new technology.
Tech Byte 