There are about 253 million visually impaired people and 1.5 billion people in the world who are suffering from hearing impairments, how can this group of people use mobile phones and answer calls? The iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch have some special designs.
The World Hearing Report says that about 1.5 billion people worldwide suffer from hearing impairment. According to statistics, there are about 253 million visually impaired people and 43.3 million blind people worldwide. Technology is changing rapidly, and it has provided more convenient 3C products for people with disabilities. Taking the iPhone as an example, how should people who can't see or hear use it? Apple has a heart-warming feature that sets many barriers.
"Apple's pursuit of innovation is not only powerful performance and outstanding appearance, but really powerful technology, which should be a technology that everyone, including people with disabilities, can enjoy and devote themselves to work, creation, communication, fitness and entertainment." Apple official website statement.
Visually impaired people can also play with the iPhone
Apple said that "VoiceOver" is a screen reader for the blind and low-vision groups that has led the industry. For completely blind users, Narrator reads everything on the screen and adjusts the rate of speech to fit. When VoiceOver is activated, you can also control your iPhone using a Braille display with input keys.
How To turn VoiceOver on or off
After activating Siri, say, "Turn on Narration" or "Turn Off Narration."
Press the three-down side button (on an iPhone with Face ID).
Press the home screen button three times (on an iPhone equipped with a home screen button).
Go to Settings Secondary Use Narration and turn settings on or off.
If you are colorblind or otherwise visually impaired, you can display the view of your Mac, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch to adjust the colors to make the screen more suitable for personal viewing.
Even better, you can also use the "narration" function to browse the picture, and users can browse more details of the people, text, frame data, and other things in the picture.
For example, a user can view a picture of a receipt in the form of a table consisting of rows and columns, with a table header attached. Narration can also describe the pose and position of the characters in the picture, so that the user's memories become more detailed and clear. In addition, with the "Markup" function, users can customize the picture narrative to make family photos more personalized.
Users can use the Narrator feature to explore more details about people, text, frame data, and more in the picture. (Source: Apple, the same below)
Looking for a customer service agent? SignTime's new service allows customers to communicate with AppleCare and Apple Customer Service Specialists in American Sign Language (ASI), British Sign Language (BSL) or French Sign Language (LSF) on their browser.
Customers who visit the Apple Store storefront in person can also use SignTime to contact sign language interpreters remotely without prior appointment. SignTime will first be launched in the United States, the United Kingdom and France, and is expected to expand to other countries in the future.
Multi-national sign languages can be used on the browser to communicate with the service staff.
People with hearing impairments use iPhones
Deaf people can't hear the iPhone ringing, but they can "see incoming calls." There is a feature in the iPhone settings that flashes the LED when prompted. After turning on this feature, when the iPhone receives the message, the LED light on the back of the phone will start to blink.
For the average user, in the case of noisy environment, you can also use this function to avoid missing phone calls and SMS notifications. Open by: Go to Settings, Assisted Use, and then select Audio/Visual. Turn on "Blink LED when prompted".
The MFi hearing aid device is a hearing aid and sound processor created by Apple in cooperation with manufacturers to tailor for the iPhone and iPad. MFi means "Made for iPhone".
What are the benefits of this hearing aid? For example, when eating in a noisy restaurant, the hearing aid will amplify the noise of the surrounding environment.
Users who use MFi hearing aids, with the help of the "Instant Listen" function, just put the iPhone or iPad close to the conversation partner, and the built-in microphone of the device will amplify the other party's voice, which can play a certain noise reduction role. AirPods can do the same.
In 2021, in a major update to the MFi hearing aid program, Apple added support for two-way hearing aids. The microphones in these new hearing aids allow deaf or hearing-impaired people to make hands-free calls and FaceTime conversations.
Apple will also support audiograms in the headphone adjustment function, a type of chart that displays the results of a hearing test. Users can load up-to-date hearing test results from paper or PDF audiograms to quickly adjust positions. The headphone adjustment function can cope with the user's hearing, amplify smaller sounds, and adjust specific frequencies.
Audiogram in iPhone.
In addition, iPadOS can also support third-party eye tracking devices, allowing users to control the iPad with only their eyes. Compatible MFi devices will be able to focus on where the user is looking on the screen, with the cursor following gaze movements, and continuous eye contact triggering actions such as taps.
Apple Watch assists touch for accessibility
Advances in technology have allowed sign language users to communicate via video calls, and Macs, iPhones, and iPads are all equipped with FaceTime calling, making it no problem to talk to iOS and macOS users on the other side of the globe.
There are also closed captions on the iPhone, which can help people with hearing impairments to better watch movies, and Mac switching control, allowing crowd control with limited mobility.
Apple Watch also contains a revolutionary new accessibility feature, watchOS assist touch, so that users with upper limb inconvenience can enjoy the convenience of Apple Watch without touching the screen or control button.
With built-in dynamic sensors like gyroscopes and accelerometers, as well as optical heart rate sensors and machine learning on devices, the Apple Watch can sense nuances in muscle and tendon activity, allowing users to control the cursor on the screen using a variety of gestures, such as pinching or clenching.
Assisted touch on the Apple Watch makes it easier for customers with physical disabilities to answer incoming calls, control the cursor on the screen, view notification centers, control centers, and more.
There are so many features that the iPhone can discover, only you can't think of it!
Sound replaces button control: Allows deaf people and users with limited mobility to replace physical buttons and switches with sounds from their mouths, such as mouth sounds, "babble" sounds, or "babbles" sounds.
Display & Font Size Settings: Can be customized in each app to make it easier for users with color blindness or other visual impairments to see the screen. Users will be able to customize these settings individually for the apps supported by this feature.
New Memoji personalization features: better represent users with oxygen tubes, artificial electronic ears, and add a soft helmet as a headgear.
iPhone launched a new Memoji personalization function, which can better represent users who use oxygen tubes and artificial electronic ears. (Source: Apple)
In fact, in addition to Apple, there are many companies that are quietly trying to optimize the use of everyone.
Microsoft released an Xbox Game Controller (Xbox Adaptive Controller) designed for the disabled, so that people with physical disabilities can also play electric like ordinary players.
A Swedish company from Tobii Dynavox technology has made an eye control device that can recognize the eye movements of people who are concerned, and then help "frozen people" patients remotely control computer typing or electrical switches.
In the fiercely competitive smartphone market, major brands are committed to the pursuit of industrial design or performance improvement. But true technological product innovation should be easy for everyone, including people with disabilities. Just like the proverb "technology always comes from human nature", the technology that benefits everyone is the really powerful technology.