Picture Dictionary-Babel Deck
Add this iPhone app to your arsenal of communication tools. It doesn’t matter whether you can speak the language or hear what is spoken. Use over 1000 color photos to show the thing that you are looking for. Negotiate better deals at the local market, rent your first apartment overseas, or meet new people.
Google Translate
This familiar sounding application can be an indispensable tool for communicating with locals on the go. Just write what you want to say, select your Target language, aunt the application translates it automatically. It can also speak the phrase using synthetic speech.
Transportation app from the host country
Increasingly, transportation systems around the world are offering their own smart phone apps. These programs can help you get live information about routes, arrival times, and stops. No more missing your stop because you didn’t hear the announcement. Ask the local transit company, your host organization, or regional disabled people’s organizations about options.
Tap Tap
Become attuned to potentially helpful noises in your environment. This app will vibrate when it detects sounds. Adjust sensitivity to fit your environment. If you have ever felt like it would be useful to hear when someone calls your name, or when your stop is called on a bus, you might try this application.
Do you use an iPhone? iPhone users may access apple’s built in services that alert you to sounds in your environment. Just go to settings, tap accessibility, and scroll down to the heading labeled “hearing.”
Sometimes texting is the most effective way to communicate with a hearing person, or a speaker of a different sign language. Applications like WhatsApp are commonly used abroad and offer the flexibility to make sure that you are always understood.
Google maps
If you have ever struggled to get good driving directions, or to know when your stop is coming up, you will appreciate this popular and universally used application. Get the list of stations for your Metro trip, visual directions to safely reach your destination, and even a vibrating tap when you arrive. If you will not have access to Internet or data, you can download maps to your phone.
Convo Passport
Supported by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and offered through video relay service provider Convo, the Convo Passport allows you to make calls between the United States and other countries using the free video relay service. Before you depart, fill out a form in which you disclose to the FCC the countries where you will be visiting, and when you will be visiting them, so that you can access this service. If you will be abroad for more than 28 days, you can request multiple Convo Passports. This service was a lifesaver for Lore Kinast and her husband on a recent trip to Greece, when their names did not come up in the system for the return flight, and they had to contact the airlines. Reflecting on the experience, Lore says that “without that, we would have had to taxi to the airport several hours earlier from our original flight and run the risk of getting stuck at the airport for who knows how long if they put us on a different flight.”
These are just a few obvious and not so obvious suggestions for apps that Deaf or hard of hearing iPhone users have benefited from the past.
Did we miss one? Send us an email at clearinghouse@miusa.org or tweet us @MobilityINTL.
