For the millions of people who are non-speaking or have lost their ability to speak, smartphones and the rise of text communication have provided many benefits. But there are still countless situations, in person and online, where an inability to speak can be a barrier.
“And we worked with the ALS community to try and understand some of the nuance of their experience, to make sure we made this as simple and easy as possible.” When I recorded clips it took around 20 minutes of reading, but if you’re not up to speaking aloud for that long you can stop at any time and come back later. The device also keeps track of what you’re saying so it can move to the next phrase automatically. The crunching of data began once I’d attached my phone to a charger and gone to bed, and in the morning there was a notification saying that the voice model had been completed.
The new features join a large list of accessibility tools on Apple devices, many of which also utilise AI. This includes the Magnifier, which can use the camera to read out everything from labels on buttons to the distance of an upcoming door, or Sound Recognition which can alert users if the phone hears a baby crying, dog barking, water running or other important sound.