Hearing aids are pretty sophisticated pieces of technology these days, capable of adjusting the sound they pick up to suit a range of different environments, from a noisy restaurant to a windy day outside. A button allows users to cycle between modes, but some go further, an app allowing the user to fine-tune things like the arc of sound captured, letting them hear what is being said by companions while blocking out extraneous sound.
In a video on CNN Money, a man whose hearing was badly affected by a brain tumor demonstrates how an app on his Apple Watch allows him to control his ReSound hearing-aid …
The app lets him choose modes, including one where the hearing aid acts as a Bluetooth music receiver, so that he doesn’t have to choose between music and hearing other sounds around him, like traffic.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILWyXS4aBDs]
We saw recently a blog entry by a young woman who is both near-blind and deaf describing the difference the Apple Watch had made to her life.
Apple has long placed a high priority on accessibility features for its products. Tim Cook last year advised an investor to “get out of this stock” if they expected the company to consider only return on investment, pointing out that while making devices usable by disabled people doesn’t necessarily generate revenue, it is something Apple will always do. The American Foundation for the Blind honored Apple for its VoiceOver technology just last week.
Via Patently Apple
