Try out these tweaks to make your smartphone easier to use.
The proliferation of smartphones has given all of us more tools than ever to stay in touch, including several helpful hearing loss apps designed specifically to provide accessible communication options.
But beyond apps, there are plenty of useful hearing loss-friendly smartphone features that may be built right into your device!
Let’s explore:
- Closed captioning on videos
- Bluetooth pairing
- Audio customization
- LED or tactile alerts
- Type to Siri
- Sound recognition
- Mono audio
Let’s look at all these hearing loss-friendly smartphone features, what they do, and how to enable them on compatible devices!
Closed captioning on videos
Depending on what version you have, your smartphone may have a built-in captioning feature for watching videos. When you play videos in apps that support captioning, the text will display at the bottom. You may even be able to adjust the font, size, and color to make it easier to read!
On Android: Settings > Accessibility > Caption preferences.
On iPhone: Settings > Accessibility > Subtitles & Captioning.
Bluetooth pairing
Bluetooth is traditionally used to pair your device to wireless headphones or speakers, but did you know it can connect to compatible hearing technology as well? For instance, those who use Bluetooth-compatible hearing aids can effectively transform them into powerful earphones tailored to their hearing needs! You can even decide to pipe music or video sounds into just one ear so your other hearing aid can pick up ambient noise from the room around you.
Audio customization
If you like to customize the way audio sounds on your phone, you have a couple of options. The exact process may differ depending on how up-to-date your phone is, but explore your phone’s features to see the specifics!
On Android: Visit Settings -> Sound & Vibration -> Advanced -> Sound Quality and Effects. You might be able to do things like adjust the sound equalizer, boost certain frequencies, and even test your hearing to personalize your sound.
On iPhone: You can choose an equalization setting to change how music sounds and customize headphone audio levels to adjust frequencies and volumes on compatible headphones.
LED or haptic alerts
By default, many phones rely on audio to deliver notifications. Hearing loss-friendly smartphone accessibility features let you choose other ways to receive them. This way, you can make sure you don’t miss incoming calls and other alerts.
On Android: Go to Settings > Sounds and vibration, where you can choose to have the phone vibrate for notifications and adjust the vibration intensity.
On iPhone: Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual > LED Flash for Alerts to turn on visual notifications, or Settings > Sounds & Haptics for vibrating alerts.
Type to Siri
For users with iPhones, accessibility features allow you to type commands to your Siri assistant instead of speaking. Do this by going to Settings > Accessibility > Siri, then turn on Type to Siri. This makes it easy for you to use Siri to answer questions or complete tasks.
Sound recognition
Do you ever worry that you might not hear your kids or grandkids calling for you right away? Or hear your dog barking? Maybe you want to be sure you don’t miss the smoke alarm going off? Modern phones have features to notify you when it recognizes sounds like these!
On Android: Settings > Accessibility > Sound Notifications. Turn them on and choose the sounds you want the phone to detect. You can choose to be notified with a flashing light, vibration, or alert on a connected watch.
On iPhone: Settings > Accessibility > Sound Recognition. Then tap Sounds to choose the ones to notify you about.
Mono audio
If you have hearing loss in just one ear, you may feel like you aren’t getting the full audio experience when wearing headphones or earbuds to listen to audio through your phone. Mono audio features make sure you’re getting an equal sound experience! Instead of playing different sounds through each speaker, mono audio plays all the sound through both speakers. This way, users can wear just one earbud without missing anything.
On Android: Settings > Accessibility > Hearing enhancements > Mono audio
On iPhone: Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual > Mono Audio
These seven hearing loss-friendly smartphone features will help ensure you can enjoy your device to its fullest potential! If you’re looking to upgrade your home phone experience, too, check out our selection of captioned telephones here.
