Apps for communicating with deaf friend?

January 4, 2017 2:30 PM

I'm looking for apps that will help me communicate with a deaf friend. Are there apps that will add subtitles to real life, so that he can read what's being said during group conversations? Also, is there a way to video chat with captioning, so that he can skype someone in real-time?

I'm looking for apps that will help my deaf friend communicate with the hearing world. Ideally, we're looking for:

1) Apps that are available on Android (for him) and iOS (for me)
2) Apps that use the hardware already part of a phone, and do not ask for extra mics/headphones/etc.
3) Apps that are <$5, or have alot of reviews and wide adoption, so that we're confident they're worth the money

In a super-special-snowflake detail, it would be great if this app worked in Hindi, as well as in English. But I understand that's a huge limitation, so recommendations for English apps would be great too.

(In case it's relevant, my friend does not know ASL.)

posted by tinymegalo to Technology (3 answers total)

Best answer: If your friend is in the U.S., he can get captioned telephone service from the FCC. It's free.

There are also some interesting apps coming out for captioning in-person conversations, though they might still be in beta. Examples: Ava, Kintrans
posted by veery at 3:24 PM on January 4, 2017

Best answer: You could try Skype Translator for video chat with captions
posted by the agents of KAOS at 7:08 PM on January 4, 2017

Response by poster: Thanks for those recommendations. It seems like the speech-to-text and noise-filtering technology for this exists, but the space is still under development. For future readers, I've also found Live Caption, which seems to work well for 1:1 conversations.
posted by tinymegalo at 12:25 PM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]