Top iPhone Apps For The Hard of Hearing

The hard of hearing community faces many challenges on a daily basis, often frustrated by once common and simple day today activities such as communication, socialising and even using the telephone. Fortunately, with technological progress a substantial number of these difficulties can be overcome. The innovation of hearing aids and their constant improvement in terms of quality, features and design has helped people with hearing problems to enjoy pastimes and perform well in the work environment without additional assistance. Moreover, the widespread introduction of assistive listening devices, amplified phones, text phones and smartphones have helped immensely in making the life of hearing impaired people as easy as possible. Although in many instances, problems with hearing are most common among the elderly, more people with hearing loss, regardless of age, have adopted modern ways of socialising and communicating with the outside world. The use of smartphones has not only offered more possibilities for online activities but also an easy access to a range of useful applications suitable for the hard of hearing. Below you can find a list of selected iPhone applications of help to the hearing impaired: Dragon Dictation. This is a free application that translates voice into text. It is very helpful when the user has difficulty understanding spoken speech as the app automatically provides transcription. Siemens Hearing Test. The hearing test is developed by Siemens in order to help test the hearing abilities in the presence of background noise. The user receives a final score after completing the nine available tests. While it is not enough to provide a diagnostic test, the app can be used to track the condition or determine whether it would be advisable to visit a professional audiologist. Alternatively you can use our simple Hearing Check on your phone browser. Click here to start our simple test. Sign BSL This free application can be very useful for those who need or want to learn the basics of British Sign Language. It puts emphasis on the alphabet, greetings, colours and numbers. Z5 Mobile This free application provides point-to-point calls from/to a videophone. It can also be used for receiving and making calls via video relay service supported by highly qualified interpreters. Additional functionalities are a digital whiteboard, video mail, HolaVRS and VCO Plus.