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Google Announces Audio Accessibility Apps

In a blog post, Google announced two new apps aimed at audio accessibility for the hearing impaired. The first is Live Transcribe, "an app that takes real-world speech and turns it into real-time captions using just the phone’s microphone." 

Starting on Feb. 4, Live Transcribe is available in over 70 languages and dialects rolling out in a limited beta to users around the world. For users who can't or don't want to speak, two-way conversations are possible thanks to a type-back keyboard, and connects with external microphones to improve transcription accuracy. Transcribe Live is pre-installed on Pixel 3 devices, and users can enable it in Accessibility Settings, then start it from the accessibility button on the navigation bar. Users with older devices can download Live Transcribe at the Play Store

The second app announced this week is Sound Amplifier. According to the blog post, "You can use Sound Amplifier on your Android smartphone with wired headphones to filter, augment and amplify the sounds in your environment. It works by increasing quiet sounds, while not over-boosting loud sounds. You can customize sound enhancement settings and apply noise reduction to minimize distracting background noise with simple sliders and toggles." It's supported on Android 9 Pie or later phones and comes pre-installed on Pixel 3.

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