Google makes available for download an app designed for those with hearing difficulties. It amplifies the "important" sounds and cleans up the environmental noise
Google, always attentive to the issues of accessibility, has updated in these days Sound Amplifier, the app designed and developed to facilitate the communication of people with hearing impairment. The first version of the app was launched last February and now a major update improves its features and functionality.
The app is dedicated to people who suffer from deafness or hearing loss and its purpose is to filter or eliminate background ambient noise to amplify a voice as clearly and distinctly as possible, significantly improving comprehension. According to recent epidemiological surveys, an estimated 10% of the world's population suffers from hearing-related diseases and disorders; in Italy alone, that's about 7 million people.
Sound Amplifier: how it works
Sound Amplifier uses your phone's microphone or the microphone in your earphones to sift through ambient sounds, improve speech frequencies, and reduce unnecessary or annoying noise. A screen allows you to view a series of parameters you can go to in order to filter and clean up sounds.
Sound Amplifier only works with headphones equipped with a 3.5mm audio jack or USB-C. The app has not yet been optimized for use with Bluetooth headphones due to sound latency issues. Sound Amplifier can be installed on smartphones running Android 6.0 or later and can be downloaded from the Play Store.
AptX Low Latency
It's possible that Sound Amplifier will soon be updated to enable the app to be used with Bluetooth headphones. A new update that would be possible thanks to the use of the latest generation audio codec AptX Low Latency.
This technology is able to reduce the audio delay that affects the Bluetooth connection to about 40 ms and then below the threshold of 100 ms, which is the average limit at which it is perceived an asynchrony between what you see and what you hear.