Hearing & speech help
For people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and for people who cannot speak. The phone on the table writes what is said and speaks what you type, in their language or in your own.
Part of the app, at the same price as everything else. You turn it on in Settings, about yourself, and nothing changes until you do.
Three situations, in plain words. If one of them is yours, this was built with you in mind.
What is said at the table appears on the screen as it is said, line by line, with who said it. You follow the conversation by reading and you answer as you prefer: with your voice, or by typing.
You type, and the phone says it out loud for you. Everything heard in the room counts as the other person's, so what you type is never mixed up with what they said.
This is a conversation by reading and typing, and that is the one thing it asks of you: the phone shows text and takes text. It asks for no hearing and no voice.
What it does not replace: a qualified interpreter. At the doctor, in a legal matter or anywhere a mistake would cost you, ask for one, including a sign-language interpreter. This is a conversation aid.
Two switches in Settings, in a framed section called “Hearing & speech help”. Each one adds something; neither takes anything away.
Normal, Medium or Large, for the conversation on screen. Nothing grows by itself; you choose, and anyone can.
“One moment, I'm typing”, “Please repeat”, “Yes”, “No”, “Thank you”, “I need help”: a row above the typing box, each said with one touch. Beside them, “Repeat last” says your last sentence again.
Tap “Show big” on any sentence you typed and it fills the screen in huge letters, turned towards the other person, who reads it from across the table. If you prefer, the phone does not speak what you type at all and only shows it; and it can keep the microphone off while you type.
Choose the same language twice, Romanian with Romanian or English with English, and the app writes what it hears and speaks what you type, without translating.
With “I can't hear well” on, a conversation you keep holds every line that was said, under its summary, so you can read again later what you did not catch at the table.
In Settings, by you, about yourself. Until you do, the app is exactly as it was.
Scroll to the section “Hearing & speech help”. It is the only one with a frame around it.
“I can't hear well”, “I can't speak”, or both. Underneath, choose the text size that suits you.
The first time you turn a switch on, a short explanation opens by itself and says exactly what changes. Tap “Got it”, then put the phone between you, with the screen towards you.
We would rather you knew the limits now than found them at the table.
The four we are asked most about this.
No. It is part of the app at the same price as everything else: thirty free minutes at the start, then hours bought once, which never expire. There is no separate plan and no separate price.
It listens and speaks in sixty languages, and the same language can be on both sides. The app's own screens, the two switches included, are written in twenty-three languages; on a phone set to another language they appear in English.
Yes, in two ways. The phone lies between you with both sides of the conversation on it. And for what you type there is “Show big”: your sentence fills the screen in huge letters, turned towards them, so they read it from across the table without touching the phone.
Yes. Everything the app tells you, it tells you in writing: what was said, who said it, whether it is listening or has stopped, and when someone is speaking. You never need to hear the phone. What you should not do is rely on it alone where a mistake would cost you; there, ask for an interpreter.
Thirty minutes free, from the first open, with everything on. No password: you sign in with your e-mail address.