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Live Transcribe
The free Android starting point, because one app does two jobs. Live Transcribe turns speech into scrolling text and also labels non-speech sounds such as a doorbell or music, while Sound Notifications listens in the background for smoke and fire alarms, sirens, baby sounds, knocking, a doorbell or beeping appliances and alerts you by vibration or by flashing the camera light.
You can add uncommon names and words so classroom or workplace vocabulary comes out right. It comes preinstalled on Pixel phones. Offline transcription works with downloaded languages, though older phones on Android 8 to 11 get English only offline, so check before you rely on it without a signal.
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Apple Live Captions
If you live on an iPhone, iPad or Mac, this is already there and costs nothing. Live Captions works across whatever is playing: phone and FaceTime calls, video meetings, social video and the person in front of you through the microphone. In a FaceTime group call it attributes each line to the person speaking, and on a Mac you can type a reply and have it spoken aloud. English works in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, India and Singapore, alongside a handful of other languages.
Captions are generated on the device, so conversations stay private. Apple says accuracy can vary and warns against relying on it in high-risk situations, so treat it as a strong everyday tool, not a replacement for an interpreter at a hospital appointment.
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Apple Sound Recognition
The iPhone's answer to a visual doorbell and baby monitor, switched on in Accessibility settings. It listens for the sounds you pick, including fire and smoke alarms, sirens, a doorbell or knock, a baby crying, running water and appliances, and shows a notification on screen, waking the Lock Screen if the phone is asleep. Custom sounds let it learn your own oven timer or an unusual doorbell chime.
It only works when the phone is close enough to hear and you are close enough to notice the phone, so it is a useful backup and travel companion, not a substitute for a dedicated visual smoke alarm at home. While it is on, "Hey Siri" is not available.
More about Apple Sound Recognition4
Ava (Live Captioning App)
The step up when free phone captions stop being enough: meetings, lectures and group conversations where you need to know who said what. Ava runs on phones, the web and Windows and Mac desktops, and Ava Connect brings captions into Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. The free plan covers unlimited basic captions in sessions of up to 40 minutes.
Its real distinction is Ava Scribe, which pairs automatic captions with professional human captioners who correct the text as it goes, in the way a CART captioner works. That is the option to push an employer, college or hospital to pay for, since Ava sells plans to companies, schools and healthcare providers. Ava advertises 99% accuracy; judge it in your own noisiest meeting before committing.
More about Ava (Live Captioning App)5
AirCaps Captioning Glasses
Caption glasses solve the problem phone apps cannot: looking down at a screen means missing faces, lips and signs. AirCaps put the captions on a private display inside the lenses, so you keep eye contact while reading what is said, and basic captioning in nine languages is free with no subscription; Pro, at $20 a month, adds translation and meeting tools.
The trade-offs are real. They start at $659, need a phone paired over Bluetooth and a live internet connection, because the speech processing happens in the cloud, and the battery is rated at up to eight hours. AirCaps claims 97% accuracy in noisy restaurants; this category is young, so try them before treating them as an everyday tool.
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InnoCaption
US only. For people who speak for themselves on the phone but cannot follow the other side, InnoCaption turns a smartphone into a captioned phone at no cost: it is certified by the FCC and paid for through the federal relay fund, and signing up needs a self-certification of hearing loss rather than a doctor's note.
The feature that matters most is the choice of caption source. Automatic speech recognition is quick for routine calls, and you can switch mid-call to a live human stenographer when a pharmacist's accent or a bad line starts producing nonsense. Captioned voicemail and saved transcripts mean you are not relying on memory for appointment times.
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CapTel Captioned Telephone
A US service. The pick for a parent or grandparent who still wants a phone on the kitchen counter rather than an app: CapTel works like an ordinary phone and shows every word the caller says on its screen. Captions come from speech recognition, with a live communications assistant stepping in at times to correct them and add details.
Choose the model by eyesight. The CapTel 2400i has a touch screen and a large, colorful display, while the 880i offers extra-large fonts for low vision. Eligible users can get an internet-based CapTel phone at no cost, with captions paid for through a federally administered fund, which makes it an easy one to set up for a relative whose hearing has faded later in life.
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Relay UK
UK only. Relay UK is the national text relay service: you type, a Relay Assistant speaks your words to the hearing person and types back their reply, so you can phone a doctor's office, a bank or a plumber who would never answer a text. The service is free apart from normal call charges, and it runs through an app on phone, tablet or PC as well as on an old textphone.
Two details make it more useful than it first looks. A personal TextNumber lets family and businesses call you directly without dialing 18002 first, and in an emergency the app's 999 button, or dialing 18000, connects you to the emergency services with a Relay Assistant on the line.
More about Relay UK9
Convo (Sign Language Relay and Interpreting)
US video relay, for signers. Captions are a workaround; for someone whose first language is ASL, a call should happen in ASL. Convo's video relay service puts a qualified ASL interpreter on your phone calls at no cost to you, and its video remote interpreting covers face-to-face conversations too, from a doctor's office to a parent meeting.
What sets it apart is ownership: Convo is Deaf-owned, which shows in a service built around signers rather than added on for them. The apps run on Android, iOS and the web, and Convo for Zoom brings an ASL interpreter into Zoom meetings at no charge to the user, which closes a gap most workplace video calls still leave open.
More about Convo (Sign Language Relay and Interpreting)10
Sorenson VRS
US video relay, for signers who want dedicated hardware. Sorenson connects you with an ASL interpreter for phone calls at no cost, paid from a federally administered fund, once you are eligible and registered in the FCC's user database. Where it differs is the range of ways in: mobile and desktop apps for calls on the go or at work and school, and the Lumina VP, a videophone Sorenson builds as Deaf-centric hardware for the home.
That makes it a sensible choice for a household that wants one fixed signing station everyone can use. Compare interpreter quality and app reliability against Convo before settling, since both cost the user nothing.
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999 BSL
UK only, and the one to install today even if you hope never to open it. Since June 17, 2022, Deaf BSL users have been able to reach the police, ambulance, fire service or coastguard in their own language: the 999 BSL app for iOS and Android, or its website, connects you by video to a BSL interpreter, who calls the 999 operator and relays the conversation both ways.
It is free, open 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and needs no registration, so it works the first time you need it. It does need a good internet connection, so Relay UK's 18000 text route and emergencySMS, which you register for in advance, remain the backups when data is weak.
More about 999 BSL12
Bellman & Symfon Visit Alerting System
The whole-house system for when phone alerts are not enough, especially overnight or with a baby. Visit pairs transmitters for the doorbell, the phone, a baby monitor and the smoke alarm with receivers you pick room by room: a flash unit for the living room, a pager clipped to a belt, a wrist receiver for baby monitoring and an alarm clock with a bed shaker that wakes you if a fire alarm goes off.
The flash receiver lights a different color for each kind of transmitter, green for the door, yellow for the phone, orange for the baby and red for smoke, so you learn at a glance which one it is. Visit is made in different radio versions for different regions, so buy every piece in the same version for your country.
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BRK SM110LED-AC Smoke Alarm with LED Strobe
The safety essential that phone alerts cannot replace. Sound Recognition and Sound Notifications only help when the phone hears the alarm and you see the phone; the SM110LED-AC builds a 177 candela strobe into the smoke alarm itself, flashing once a second, with a sealed 10-year battery backup so it keeps working in a power outage.
Interconnect it with other BRK or First Alert alarms, up to 18 in all, and every strobe in the house flashes together, so smoke in the kitchen lights up the bedroom. It is a 120V hardwired unit built to US standards, and BRK says a qualified electrician should install it; renters and readers elsewhere should look at a wireless alerting system with a smoke alarm transmitter instead.
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Sonic Alert Sonic Bomb Alarm Clock with Super Shaker (SBB500SS)
The simple, single-job answer to waking up on time. A phone under the pillow can slide off the bed or die overnight; the Sonic Bomb is a dedicated clock with a bed shaker you tuck under the mattress or pillow, super bright strobe lights and battery backup. Its 113 dB alarm, with adjustable tone and volume, will also wake a hearing partner, so turn the sound down and let the shaker do the work.
The shaker's strength cannot be adjusted, so placement matters: under the mattress it moves the whole bed, while under the pillow it feels less intense. Sonic Alert's own store has listed it as sold out, so check stock and buy from a retailer with an easy return policy.
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