Sound is an important part of the smartphone and other Apple devices. For people with a hearing impairment, the company has therefore come up with several things to help them use the iPhone, iPad, Watch and Mac.
Use iPhone and other Apple products with a hearing impairment
In this guide, we’ll look at the different ways Apple helps the deaf and hard of hearing use its products better, as well as hear the world better. Apple works well with producers of hearing aids to combine them with iOS.
Using iPhone and iPad with a visual impairment
The iOS Accessibility menu has several options for the deaf and hard of hearing. You can find this menu by going to settings, tapping ‘General’ and then ‘Accessibility’. The audio options can be found under the heading ‘hear’.
Here you enable an LED flash for when there is a notification. You do this by tapping on ‘LED flash on notification’ and flipping the switch in the next screen. There is also an extra switch that you can pull if you also want to get flashes while your iPhone is on silent.
Not everyone with a hearing impairment has problems with both ears. For example, if you hear well in one ear, you don’t want to miss half of the sound when listening to music or watching a video. In the Accessibility menu, you can therefore turn on mono sound, so that all sound can be heard on both sides. You can also adjust the balance between left and right, by using the slider with the large L and R on both sides.
With the switch next to ‘Noise canceling’ you ensure that the ambient noise is reduced during telephone calls, so that you can understand each other better. Unfortunately, it is not possible to use the built-in text telephone software in the Netherlands to make telephone calls via text. Hopefully this will be added later.
Using the iPhone with a hearing aid
Apple is working with hearing aid manufacturers to connect it to iOS. Hearing aids usually allow users to choose different programs and adjust the volume with buttons on the ear, but it is much easier if this can also be done via the iPhone.
Once paired, you can press the home button three times to see the hearing aid settings. You can then, for example, indicate whether you are outside or inside, adjust the volume per ear and see the battery status. You can also have ring tones played in the hearing aid and listen to other media.
A nice extra function is called ‘live listening’. This is useful if you are trying to have a conversation in an environment with a lot of noise. You place your iPhone on the table and point the device at your conversation partners so that the microphone helps you listen. Apple has a list of suitable ‘Made for iPhone’ hearing aids on his website.
Watch media on an iPhone or iPad with a hearing impairment
Whether a video can be followed by the deaf and hard of hearing depends on the subtitles. Preferably subtitles that not only provide the spoken sentences with text, but also indicate who is speaking and what other sounds can be heard.
In the Accessibility menu at the bottom under ‘media’ you will find the option to turn on standard captions for the deaf and hard of hearing, if available. Audio descriptions can also be switched on here.
Looking for a movie in the iTunes Store? Then you can clearly see which films support subtitles for both speech and sounds. You can see this by looking up a movie, tapping it and seeing if the icon with ‘CC’ is visible. This icon is between ‘4K’, ‘HDR’ and so on. CC stands for ‘closed captioning’ and means that there is also text for the sounds and other audio. The same goes for when you search the iTunes Store on your Mac or Apple TV.
Take advantage of the various Apple services
In addition to the above tools, various Apple services give the deaf and hard of hearing an opportunity to communicate. Think of FaceTime, where you can see each other and have a conversation via sign language. You can also communicate with Siri by talking or typing. To do this, go to Siri in the Accessibility menu under the heading ‘Interaction’ and flip the switch at ‘Type questions to Siri’. You will receive the responses via text.
You can set different types of vibrations in iOS for your notifications. To do this, go to ‘Notifications’ in the settings menu and choose an app for which you want to adjust the notification. Slightly confusing is that you then set the vibrations at ‘sounds’. This is not possible with every app, but you can with Calendar, Messages, FaceTime, Reminders and Phone.
Using Apple Watch with a hearing impairment
The Apple Watch is a watch with its own speaker, but the most important thing is the vibrations. That’s where the Taptic Engine comes in, which can also be found in the recent iPhones. This allows you to feel small vibrations when operating the device, but also a tap when a notification arrives.
Also on your Apple Watch it is possible to convert the sound from stereo to mono and adjust the balance to change the volume between your left and right ear. You can do both by opening the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, tapping ‘My Watch’ and then choosing ‘General’ and ‘Accessibility’. There you can enable ‘Mono sound’ and adjust the balance via the slider.
Using Mac with a hearing impairment
Since High Sierra you can also use FaceTime on the Mac to make calls using sign language. This allows you to video call someone who has a Mac, but you can also speak to people with an iPhone or iPad. You can also type questions to Siri on the Mac. You must first enable this in the Accessibility menu. The Accessibility menu for macOS can be found by pressing Option + Command + F5. You can also ask Siri to open accessibility, or type ‘accessibility’ in Spotlight.
In this Accessibility menu you will find the same options as on iOS. You can set mono sound and adjust the balance so that the sound is louder in one ear than in the other. Audio descriptions and subtitles can also be switched on. In the Accessibility menu, you’ll also find the option to get a screen flash when an app needs your attention. This is instead of the sound other people hear.
Monthly theme: Accessibility
This month on iPhoned we pay extra attention to the theme of accessibility. Keep an eye on the website, download our iPhoned app and sign up for the newsletter to stay informed.
Read more about the topic of Accessibility
- Apple trains Siri to better understand people with speech impediments (26-2)
- Accessibility: Adjust iPhone text size and use bold text (10-1)
- People with a disability about their iPhone: “you are missing out on potential customers” (22-10-2020)
- Accessibility in iOS 14: 5 new features for people with disabilities (7/13/2020)
- Are you color blind? This way you turn on color filters on your iPhone, iPad and Mac (2/6/2020)