From the last decade, we have seen Google coming up with the most advanced and mind-blowing technologies to its users. Wait, wasn’t Pixel 3XL a huge disappointment due to its big notch? How about its top-notch features like Assistant and Camera have no match till date! While others were using 2 or 3 cameras in their phones, Pixel sticks with its one camera and still gives a tough competition to other brands and operating systems.
Recently, on the 4th of February, Google launched two new features named Live Transcribe and Sound Amplifier.
Let’s learn about these two in detail…
Live Transcribe
It is an Android app that will convert speech into text in real time. The main motive of this app is to help the hearing impaired phone users. It uses the latest automatic speech recognition technology that transcribes the spoken words into text on a real-time basis. It helps users to communicate better. Moreover, typing the response on the screen helps users continue the conversation without awkward silences.
The original script was “Hello from Code Brew Labs. This is how Live Transcribe works. It writes the text with almost accurate punctuation. This is a test monolog, and it works brilliantly.”
We dictated the above script to the transcribe app, and the results are:
Now you can judge how much accurate it is. In our case, the app was 70% correct and given the fact that the app is still in beta version, we can say results are quite promising. We hope the final version of the app will work with 100% accuracy.
Availability
As per Google, this software is available in Google Play Store in beta version. It will come pre-installed in Pixel devices and other devices (Above 5.0 Lollipop) can download it from Play Store for free. Till now Live Transcribe is only available in Android devices.
Features
- Supports more than 70 languages and dialects.
- On the go bilingual support.
- Haptic feedback (optional) to help users know when someone starts speaking.
- Compatible with Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and later Android versions.
- Reply through typing your responses within the app
Sound Amplifier
This is the second app that has been launched by Google with Live Transcribe. The Sound Amplifier takes input through the earphones mic and the users can customize it as per their needs. Sound Amplifier works only with wired earphones, the phone amplifies the final sound, making it easier to hear.
Don’t underestimate Sound Amplifier’s capabilities because of its small file size (1.66 MB), for it allows users to switch between left and/or right ear as per their needs. Users can also fine-tune sounds while keeping unwanted sounds in check. All they need to do is follow the basic steps after installing the app: Settings> Accessibility> Sound Amplifier.
Availability
This feature is also available in the Google Play store. It will come pre-installed in Pixel devices and supports only Android 9.0(Pie). Sound Amplifier is free to use.
Features
- Boosts quiet sounds to enable conversations in loud surroundings.
- User-friendly tuning UI for personalized listening experience through adjustable audio and/or microphone settings.
- Lowers distracting noises and unwanted sounds.
Conclusion
Google says that Sound Amplifier will be available to developers to build into their own apps via the Dynamic Processing Effect API. Now the question is: How will a mobile app development company use it for developing futuristic apps to help those who are hard of hearing.
After using both of these two apps I found that these can be an aspiration for the hearing impaired. These apps can change their way of living and help them interact with surroundings. Although Live Transcribe is in beta mode, it still works well.
