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A smartwatch app alerts users with hearing loss to nearby sounds

From bird chirps to fire alarms, the app displays the type and volume of noises

SoundWatch smartwatch app

The new smartwatch app, SoundWatch, alerts people who are deaf and hard of hearing to bird songs, sirens and other noises.

Jain et al./ASSETS 2020

By Maria Temming

A new smartwatch app alerts users who are deaf or hard of hearing of nearby sounds, such as microwave beeps or car horns.

“The main motivation [for the app] came from my own experience, and conversations that my colleagues and I have had with deaf and hard of hearing people over several years,” says Dhruv Jain, who presented the system, called SoundWatch, at the virtual ASSETS conference on October 28.