[HN Gopher] Show HN: Thanks to BeAware, Deaf iPhone users have a...
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Show HN: Thanks to BeAware, Deaf iPhone users have a free alerting
device (OSS)
Author : saamerm
Score : 120 points
Date : 2022-05-08 08:42 UTC (14 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.deafassistant.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.deafassistant.com)
| knolan wrote:
| For anyone interested iOS also has some of these sound
| recognition features built in.
|
| https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iphf2dc33312/io...
| saamerm wrote:
| Thanks for your comment! The app doesn't perform any of those
| sound recognition features, it currently acts as a compliment
| to those features :)
| mrlonglong wrote:
| Do it for Android, I'm not a fan of iThingies
| AnonC wrote:
| > Apart from being free, the app is open source and available
| here, so we would like to continue being the best with community
| input and support.
|
| This is great. As a non-deaf person (as of today), I will be
| checking this out because such apps and features could be helpful
| for ordinary people too. How do you plan to keep this free
| though? Is it going to become freemium in the future?
|
| Apple has done a lot for accessibility in its operating systems,
| but improvements are always welcome. Some of the features in this
| app may be Sherlocked [1] by Apple in the near future.
|
| Edit: I found a typo in the info screen that's shown when the app
| is launched (or when the info page is visited from the menu). I
| don't have a GitHub account, hence mentioning it here. There's a
| "you" ("into you your live phone calls") that shouldn't be there
| in this section:
|
| > "Text - BeAware is the only app that can read text loud into
| you your live phone calls, assisted by customizable preset
| phrases"
|
| [1]:
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_(software)#Sherlock...
| saamerm wrote:
| Thank you for your comment! Great question that I should have
| mentioned in my comment, if the app is open-source and free, we
| don't have ads, we collect no information, how do we make
| money?
|
| We are hoping to hit >10k active monthly users and an
| organically growing user base to justify putting in more time
| and personal money to create an AR module and an "Experience"
| module that uses Machine Learning. We hope to provide those as
| freemium features because those will require significantly more
| time to add, but will be an absolute game changer to Deaf Tech!
| So please share it with your friends so we can make the dream a
| reality! :)
|
| Ah Sherlocking! That's a great question. There's no guarantee
| obviously, you got to take risks. The biggest one is if you put
| in so much work but no uses the app at all. If I got
| sherlocked, I would take it as a compliment, that I made
| something worth being sherlocked! :D
|
| Dude thank you for catching that bug, I will push out an update
| today! :)
| JadeNB wrote:
| > As a non-deaf person (as of today), I will be checking this
| out because such apps and features could be helpful for
| ordinary people too.
|
| While the intention behind the post is clearly good, and I like
| your emphasis--in the spirit of "accessibility helps everyone",
| a message that always bears repeating--I would encourage you to
| stick with "non-deaf" (as you did at first) instead of
| "ordinary" as the opposite of deaf.
| saamerm wrote:
| Jade! Yo thank you so much for helping everyone here be more
| educated about using the right terminology. We all have a lot
| of learning to do, the other day I learnt to use "wheelchair
| user" instead of the commonly mistaken "wheelchair bound"
| terminology
| IfOnlyYouKnew wrote:
| It's been pre-sherlocked. The feature exists, only with
| different sounds (doorbell, barking, fire alarm etc.) I don't
| know why this fact isn't acknowledged (as far as I can see).
| For those users unaware of the native features, it's a
| disservice. And for those that know, it leaves them wondering
| how the two interact, and if it isn't maybe a little petty not
| to mention it.
| lelandfe wrote:
| For the interested:
|
| Settings > Accessibility > Sound Recognition
|
| It appears this app does have alerting based on decibel
| thresholds, which iOS lacks.
| saamerm wrote:
| Exactly, the app is a compliment to the native "Sound
| Recognition", they don't step on each other's toes. We
| don't 100% endorse that functionality because we don't want
| to be liable for inaccuracies or weaknesses in that
| functionality
| saamerm wrote:
| We are also looking to add more languages, but we need help from
| volunteers to verify those translations. So feel free to message
| us through the app or email us at hi@deafassistant.com !
| Linda703 wrote:
| post_break wrote:
| I don't see a price or in app purchase. How is this being
| monitized?
| KSPAtlas wrote:
| Donations I think.
| saamerm wrote:
| Thank you for your comment! Great question, if the app is open-
| source and free, we don't have ads, we collect no information,
| how do we make money?
|
| We are hoping to hit >10k active monthly users and a
| organically growing user base to justify putting in more time
| and personal money to create an AR module and an "Experience"
| module that uses Machine Learning. We hope to provide those as
| freemium features because those will require significantly more
| time to add, but will be an absolute game changer to Deaf Tech!
| So please share it with your friends so we can make the dream a
| reality! :)
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| Kudos!
|
| I am always glad to see more accessibility in software.
|
| For regular (non-disabled user base) apps, it's quite possible to
| make apps accessible, but it's something that should be planned
| from the beginning (same with localization).
|
| I do it with almost all my apps. Pretty simple, if you integrate
| it from the start.
|
| One tool that I always suggest, is Sim Daltonism[0]. It's a great
| way to ensure that we don't rely on color alone, as a UI feedback
| axis.
|
| [0] https://michelf.ca/projects/sim-daltonism/
| saamerm wrote:
| Dude wait, did You create Sim Daltonism? I am a HUGE fan of
| that app, especially since I am also color blind :D
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| No. I did not.
|
| I use it all the time, though.
|
| I was just using it this morning.
| saamerm wrote:
| Ah ok, I got excited for a minute. But yeah I totally agree
| about a11y first!
| Jemm wrote:
| Hi. Just some feedback. When I click the icon for Android
| download it takes me to a feedback page with no way to download
| the app. Searching for the app in the Canadian Play Store there
| are dozens of apps called BeAware none of which appear to be
| yours.
| saamerm wrote:
| Hey Jemm from Canada! The app is currently only available for
| iOS right now. We haven't built it for Android yet since the
| app is free. So the form is for us to see how many people would
| actually download it if we build it for Android.
|
| So please fill out the form with your info, and share the form
| with anyone who would also want it for Android.
| saamerm wrote:
| Hey HN! After months of work and over 1000 hours of research,
| design & development, we just released BeAware, an open-source &
| free Deaf Assistant iPhone app!
|
| - BeAware uses the in-built hardware to alert Deaf users of
| knocks on doors, baby crying for a deaf moms, sirens blaring for
| deaf delivery drivers. Earlier deaf users would have to purchase
| a separate "alerting devices" which would vibrate or flash LED's,
| something that they can do with this app now, even while it's
| running in the background in low power mode!
|
| - The app also performs highly performant Speech To Text in ~15
| languages, even without an internet connection, designed to work
| great in the time of the pandemic. (Includes Arabic, Ukrainian,
| Chinese Simplified & Traditional, Spanish, French, ...)
|
| - The notepad feature allows users to type, or use pre-written
| phrases to display text to others who don't know ASL. It's super
| unique to where it allows the Deaf user to dictate the text
| through active audio and video calls!
|
| The app was designed to make their everyday lives easier and more
| inclusive. We'd love to get your feedback, and for your to share
| it with your friends :) Just tap the download button on the
| website. We plan to add AR and ML to the app if we get some
| traction & interest to enhance the deaf experience.
| greatpnwfood1 wrote:
| DavideNL wrote:
| I don't seem to see a specification of exactly what type of
| sounds it will alert for anywhere on the website or app...
| saamerm wrote:
| Hey Davide thank you for your comment! Currently it just
| helps you BeAware of all noises that hit the noise threshold
| (60-90 decibels) that you set on your phone. We want to use
| ML in the next version to allow users to select what sounds
| they want to be alerted to "Baby Crying", "Fire Alarm",
| "Microwave beeping", etc.
| imglorp wrote:
| Thank you for making this app!
|
| It might sound counterintuitive, but some HoH (hard of hearing)
| users might actually be listening to media in the foreground
| when a noise triggers a background alert. They might have
| headphones or might have audio piped to aids over BT. So, it
| might make sense to pause foreground media, if that's possible,
| in order to let the user shift focus to the alerting noise,
| ideally isolating and amplifying the noise a little and sending
| it to the phone's audio output. Aids do this to some extent but
| maybe not when media is playing.
| saamerm wrote:
| OMG Yes, thank you for your comment! You're right! That's
| exactly why we have added the ability to "Mark alert as
| critical" so that it will increase priority and provide
| notification even if your phone is in Do Not Disturb or Focus
| mode
| ThePowerOfFuet wrote:
| > - BeAware uses the in-built hardware to alert Deaf users of
| knocks on doors, baby crying for a deaf moms, sirens blaring
| for deaf delivery drivers. Earlier deaf users would have to
| purchase a separate "alerting devices" which would vibrate or
| flash LED's, something that they can do with this app now, even
| while it's running in the background in low power mode!
|
| In what way is this an improvement over the functionality
| that's built right into iOS 14+?
|
| https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/sound-recognition-iph...
|
| How are you paying for the development and maintenance given
| that the app is free and claims not to gather personal
| information of any sort?
| saamerm wrote:
| Thank you for your comment u/ThePowerOfFuet Great question!
| Currently the sound recognition doesn't just measure "loud
| noises" or allow you to set a threshold above which to be
| alerted. You have to currently specify which sounds to
| select, and then the accuracy of those are also not that
| great. This app behaves like "alerting devices" that Deaf
| users currently pay to purchase, having to purchase and
| manage another gadget.
|
| Great question, if the app is open-source and free, we don't
| have ads, we collect no information, how do we make money? We
| are hoping to hit >10k active monthly users and a organically
| growing user base to justify putting in more time and
| personal money to create an AR module and an "Experience"
| module that uses Machine Learning. We hope to provide those
| as freemium features because those will require significantly
| more time to add, but will be an absolute game changer to
| Deaf Tech!
| RheingoldRiver wrote:
| > The notepad feature allows users to type, or use pre-written
| phrases to display text to others who don't know ASL. It's
| super unique to where it allows the Deaf user to dictate the
| text through active audio and video calls!
|
| I'm really interested in this feature - I have no hearing
| impairment, but with most colds, I get extremely long-lasting &
| severe laryngitis to the point where I'm effectively mute for a
| month at a time afterwards (though this hasn't been an issue
| since the pandemic started because I've been in isolation and
| not gotten sick). Prior to the pandemic I was actually
| considering learning some ASL to be able to communicate when I
| have laryngitis but this seems like a much easier solution. For
| phone calls, I could have a brief preset message explaining the
| situation and that I will be typing my responses and using TTS,
| and then I'm able to use the phone again. This looks fantastic!
|
| Are you planning to release an android version?
| jraph wrote:
| Nitpick
|
| > baby crying for a deaf moms
|
| Or a deaf dad. Nowadays it's not just women handling babies. "a
| deaf parent" would get you covered :-)
|
| (could also target babysitters)
| saamerm wrote:
| Oh yes you're right, thank you so much for your comment!
|
| Sorry it was past midnight & did this post really quick
| because I didn't think this post would pick up at all! Lol
| but yes, parents, baby sitters, deaf grand parents, etc.
| JadeNB wrote:
| Thank you for your enthusiastic and positive responses in
| this thread to constructive criticism. It's easy to get
| defensive about one's baby (software baby in this case),
| and it's refreshing to see someone so focused on getting it
| right, not on proving they're right.
| saamerm wrote:
| Jade thank you! I feel like I have this amazing
| opportunity to learn from everyone, from all around the
| world, so I might as well encourage more people to
| comment so I can learn from everyone's knowledge and
| experience :)
| Vladimof wrote:
| Does it use the lidar for object detection for the blind?
| reaperducer wrote:
| Somewhat off topic, but earlier this week I saw a guy on the
| train signing to someone over FaceTime.
|
| Until then, I didn't realize how life-changing video calling can
| be for some people.
| _ink_ wrote:
| Is it possible to translate the transcribed text? E.g. listen to
| english audio and show german text?
| roamerz wrote:
| Thanks for doing this project and I hope it works out for you! I
| am frequency deaf and have always wanted an app that could alert
| me to a nearby rattlesnake when I am out hiking as I can't hear
| them very well. From reading that would probably be a paid
| feature later down the road but one I would certainly pay for!
| saamerm wrote:
| Holy moly thats a great idea, thanks for your comment! I will
| provide this functionality for free for you (and everyone else
| if its not too difficult) if you can help me test it, so I can
| figure out the science. I kinda have an idea, because I have
| studied the science behind sounds quite a bit. Can you reach
| out to me at hi@deafassistant.com ?
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