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Google's Live Transcribe and Sound Amplifier Aim To Help the Hard of Hearing (cnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the interesting-moves dept.

Google wants to make Android phones powerful tools for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. From a report: On Monday, the search giant released two new services, Live Transcribe and Sound Amplifier, aimed at helping people who have trouble hearing communicate more easily. Live Transcribe does exactly what its name suggests -- it uses your phone's mic to automatically generate captions that appear on your screen. With Sound Amplifier, you can use your phone and a set of headphones to improve the clarity of the speech around you. To develop the new products, Google said it worked with Gallaudet University, the private school in Washington, DC for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

30 comments

  1. Obligatory by PPH · · Score: 2

    News for the hard of hearing.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:Obligatory by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      Hardly, obligatory would be:

      What?

  2. Free market by DFurno2003 · · Score: -1

    Is this a case of the free market making people's lives better? How is this possible without gubmint control?

    1. Re:Free market by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well it depends. If Google cannot find a way to monetize it, it will just say locked up as an unused patent, in their R&D Department.
      Then you get question on how well it will transcribe for you. Would it transcribe data well enough for a Hearing Impaired person to make sound legal decisions from its transcriptions.
      Also depending on how Google monetizes it, there can be significant privacy and security concerns around it.

      It seems by tone of your post, you have a hard time differentiating socialism from communism. Socialism welcomes a free market, however will get involved if something goes too far, or does more harm then good. Compared to Communism, which Government controls the business, in all aspects.

      With the recent government shutdown, the the closing of the FDA. New types of Beer couldn't be released, and new drugs cannot be approved. In essence putting a hold on economic growth. Because the FDA, FCC, SCC... While not perfect, has the goal of doing more good then harm, and make sure free trade, doesn't devolve into snake oil sales.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:Free market by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I doubt it would be used for making legal decisions, even for people who can hear perfectly well we tend to write stuff down.

      Visually impaired people already make extensive use of Google services like maps and text to speech so any privacy issues are probably well known by now. At least in Europe you can opt out of everything and run it all locally if you wish. The biggest issue they have is abuse from people who see them looking at their phones and assume that they are faking their disability.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:Free market by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      There are things that would require understand of the words before deicing to act. Not all legal decisions are contractual.
      Lets use the old trope of the Miranda rights, yes the police doesn't need to give the speech, and you won't give a free pass just because they arrested you without it.
      However if given, and Google Transcribe came up with something wrong, then use made your decision based on the bad transcription, how would that play out in court. "You have the right to remember sentences. Any thing for sale can be used used against you in a court of law..."

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    4. Re:Free market by DCFusor · · Score: 1
      What you call communism - the government controlling everything, is actually totalitarianism, which isn't exclusively a communist thing at all. Fascists do it...crony capitalists do it (control the other way around, but it makes no practical difference as it's total and central).
      .

      What's funny is that this "shutdown" only shutdown around 7% of the government spending and "work" - the stuff you mention among it. No paychecks don't get paid - zero. No entitlements don't get paid - there'd be revolt. Sure, the part of the IRS that gives refunds is shut down (and I'm waiting myself), but not the part that collects your money, using force as necessary.
      .

      Yes, shutting certain parts down - you'll notice that only the parts that sometimes deliver some sort of service (you forgot to mention parks and museums) - is all for show, no part that exercises power shuts down. And shutting down some things only creates problems the government caused in the first place - you used to be able to introduce a product etc without a permit at all (not that this was utopia, but...). New types of beer - now that hurts! No really, it does. WTF were we thinking letting them control that in the first place? Is the approval of new drugs that actually cure anything so frequent? If you know squat, you know that at most the new drugs are palliative and intended as an income stream for phrama, many are just tweaks of a molecule to extend a patent, and most have some fairly nasty side effects while not curing you. Iatrogenic deaths are at an all time high. I think government is doing it wrong.

      --
      Why guess when you can know? Measure!
  3. Should've added to YouTube first by DarkRookie2 · · Score: 1

    I would like to get a lot better auto generated subs n YouTube.

    --
    http://progressquest.com/spoltog.php?name=Son+Of+Son+Of+DarkRookie
    1. Re:Should've added to YouTube first by nwaack · · Score: 1

      This. So much this. Sometimes when I'm bored I'll turn on the auto-generated CC in a few YouTube videos just for a good laugh.

  4. Apple's hard-of-hearing-ness by ScooterComputer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I applaud Google in their efforts here, but as a current iPhone user, I'm saddened to see it as something I can't/won't immediately be able to take advantage of. What frustrates me--as an Apple customer, as a "fan" of Apple's Accessibility work, and as one of those 466 million hard-of-hearing folks--is the difficulty I have personally had in getting Apple to understand hearing impairment, and to take it more seriously than they do. Apple seems to be of the mind that hearing impairment can be and is resolved with hearing aids, which to those in the know is absurd. Perhaps, though, Google's initiatives will help Apple see what additional work could be done to improve their ecosystem for hard-of-hearing users, not just the specific subset of the hearing-impaired population that can benefit from hearing aids.

    --
    Scott
    "Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."
    1. Re:Apple's hard-of-hearing-ness by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Don't applaud too loudly Google's efforts to get more people to willingly turn their cellphones into even more of a spy device.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Apple's hard-of-hearing-ness by tomhath · · Score: 1

      Don't applaud too loudly...

      I wonder what the subtitles for that would be?

    3. Re:Apple's hard-of-hearing-ness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Apple's position on hearing impairment and their phone is "you're hearing it wrong".

    4. Re:Apple's hard-of-hearing-ness by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      If Google actually cares about helping people, and not just using it as a Cash grab to get a group of people to switch to Google. I don't see why Google cannot release an iOS app. Google and Microsoft does have a set of Apps for iOS as well as for Android.
      The real question goes into how Google expect to monetize the technology.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    5. Re:Apple's hard-of-hearing-ness by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      [loud applause]

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    6. Re:Apple's hard-of-hearing-ness by ASCIIxTended · · Score: -1

      I was recently on an Apple forum looking for help in getting a monitor (which worked fine on a pc) to display the correct, native resolution on an iMac. It would default to 1024x768 without any option to change to the correct 1920x1080. The general response on the forum was 'just get a different monitor - preferably one made by Apple'.

      So I say to you - do it the Apple way and just get a different phone to fix your problem - an Android phone.

      --
      I do not belong to the church of the lowercase 'i'
    7. Re:Apple's hard-of-hearing-ness by SuiteSisterMary · · Score: 1

      I dunno, iPhone is pretty good about working with my hearing aids, and has had Live Listen for a while now, which is the 'pipe the iPhone mic through to the hearing aids' thing. The live closed-caption thing sounds cool, though.

      --
      Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
  5. What's their motive? by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    Will this be used to better target ads to deaf people?

  6. Not for me by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    Doesn't work for me and that accessibility button was right on top of the keyboard enter key so I turned it off.

    1. Re: Not for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Press and drag the button to place it anywhere on screen...

  7. Also sends everything to Google by gweihir · · Score: 1

    To be stored forever and data-mined to the nines. Google does nothing for others, everything it does is just to make its elite even more filthy rich.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  8. Too much of a delay by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

    I have hearing loss and tinnitus in my right ear. A hearing aid was going to cost over $1,000 (after insurance reduced the cost) so I tried less expensive options first. White noise applications on a bluetooth headset reduced the ringing but blocked me from hearing through my right ear. I tried some "sound booster" apps but there was a delay. Not a big delay, but enough to be frustrating. Sort of like the stereotypical badly dubbed Japanese movie. {mouth moves} "How are {mouth stops moving} you doing?" Before anyone says that Bluetooth was to blame, I tried wired headphones as well and there was the same delay.

    I finally broke down and got a hearing aid. It's helped my tinnitus and improved my hearing. Still, I'd love it if there were a method for boosting audio for those hard of hearing. It would make for a lot of options less expensive than a hearing aid.

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    1. Re:Too much of a delay by bobby · · Score: 1

      Some tinnitus is mental / neural; some is caused by infection. Hopefully you're seeking very competent medical help / tests?

      Sadly my mom suffered from hearing loss (which significantly impacted her life) that might have been lessened or stopped if it had been caught years before. One of the symptoms showed up on a head CT showing some bone loss that was attributed to an inner-ear infection that can spread.

      I occasionally get some perceived tinnitus that I attribute to a combination of not enough sleep and too much (or any) caffeine.

      Yes, I too tried about a dozen Android sound amplifier apps- all had (IMHO) huge delay and as such were useless. I blame it on Android / hardware processing; I don't know enough about the Android platform to know if the processing delay could be avoided. If the google app has delay, it's useless.

      I wanted to try some of the many very inexpensive hearing aids available- some as cheap as $12. Some are rechargeable, and some claim to run for a month on 1 battery.

    2. Re:Too much of a delay by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      I had a hearing test by an audiologist that showed significant hearing loss in the ear with the ringing. This might be genetic (as my mother has tinnitus as well) or just due to old age (which still feels odd to say given that I'm 43). Luckily, a second test a year later didn't show any additional hearing loss. Everything was exactly the same so we're hoping that this isn't going to get worse.

      I believe that some "OTC hearing amplifiers" are being approved to help with the cost of hearing aids. These wouldn't be as tailored to your specific situation as a hearing aid could be, but they'd be a lot cheaper. Too late for me, though, as I've already shelled out the $1,000. (It hurt to pay that much, but trying to function with a constant ringing in one ear was worse.)

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    3. Re:Too much of a delay by bobby · · Score: 1

      I'm sorry you're having this loss at such a young age. I'm a good bit older and regularly run (mix) sound (and I'm pretty good at very gentle augmentation of classical, to full-on rock). I haven't had my hearing tested, but I don't perceive it to be any worse than when I was 20, and now that I've gotten into audio work, I ardently/fiercely protect my hearing.

      I know they're pricey but you've bypassed the world of junk hearing aids, and some argue that the super-cheap ones can do more damage.

      I'm much more concerned that you might have one of the many inner-ear infections. They can be very difficult to detect until after they've done much damage. One is "mastoiditis" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4176546/ and
        https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ear-infections/symptoms-causes/syc-20351616. Like too many conditions / diseases, it's often overlooked because it's considered more of a childhood disease; and may well set in during childhood.

  9. Live Transcribe and Google Glass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Combine Live Transcribe with Google Glass for a real head's up "subtitle" experience. Also, put a small directional microphone on the Glass headset, so you can control who you are reading better. It would also be great if transcriptions of live events (e.g. theatre), or movies had some connection to the system as well so that people could have their own, private subtitles.

  10. hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is a system I'd pay for but would be extremely wary of getting for free from a marketing company. I'm assuming the paid service would be completely private of course with option for permanent automatic deletion of logs.

  11. Relay operator privacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sooo Google will never be compelled to disclose discussions / what they hear? Right, didn't think so. I cannot believe this will be taken as anything serious.

  12. "captioning devices" ... not new tech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    stuff like this has been around awhile, tinkering old-timers have been pairing existing tech since....monkeys?

  13. Spy even more intensely on the deaf by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    That's more likely what they want to do: have 100% access to the conversations of deaf people.