Both Apple and Samsung devices offer a variety of accessibility options for their phones. Ranging from support for hearing to assistance with visual impairments, these companies are slowly finding ways to make your lives easier.
This week marks International Week of the Deaf (18th September – 24th September) so we’ve put together our top picks of accessibility hacks.
Pair hearing aids with your iPhone
If you use hearing aids that are compatible with iPhone, you can pair them together from the accessibility menu. Doing this will improve the quality of sound on your iPhone when listening to music or making calls.
To pair your hearing aid to your iPhone…
Open Settings > Accessibility
- Scroll down and select Hearing Devices
- Select your hearing aid device from the result
- Now go back and toggle on Hearing Aid Compatibility
Visual alerts
For times when you’ve not got your phone to hand, turning on the LED Flash on your phone is the perfect solution. When you receive an alert or notification, the light on your phone will start blinking giving you a visual indication of activity on your phone. Here’s how:
- Open Settings > General > Accessibility
- Scroll down to Audio/Visual
- Select LED Flash for Alerts
- Toggle on your preferred options
Live Listen
Live Listen is an assistive listening feature allowing your phone to act like a microphone sending the sound straight to your earphones. This can allow for better conversations in loud environments or when someone is across the room.
All you have to do is turn this feature on and then move your device closer to the people that you’re having a conversation with and the audio is sent straight to your earphones or Made for iPhone hearing devices.
To add Live Listen to your control centre…
- Go to Settings > Control Centre
- Scroll down and tap the Add button next to the Hearing button
- Tap Settings to save the changes
Sound Recognition
This feature allows for your device to listen for certain sounds such as a baby crying or a dog barking and then notifies you once a particular sound has been detected so that you are able to take the necessary action.
Sound Recognition has the ability to recognise 15 sounds or you can even train your device to listen for specific sounds that are unique to you and your environment such as specific alarms or electrical appliances.
To set up Sound Recognition…
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > Sound Recognition
- Toggle on Sound Recognition
