Apps to help those with special needs. 1 Benjamin Saracco NJ Reference & Digital Projects Librarian bsaracco@njstatelib.org ext: 115 The power of modern day tablets and smartphones Most smartphones and tablet computers are equipped with tools that make them extremely useful for those with physical or cognitive disabilities. Some of these tools include: Touchscreens Voice Recognition software Image recognition using the builtin camera Text recognition The following slides contain just a few examples of the types of apps that can be of use to those with special needs. All are currently free, but may charge for extra features. 2 1
Apple IOS Smartphone Apps All of the Apps featured in this presentation are available for Apple IOS devices such as ipads, iphones, and ipod Touchs. That being said, the majority of the Apps are also available for Android devices and for the few that are not, other similar Apps may be available. 3 ClearCaptions: By Purple Communications, Inc. ClearCaptions adds free captions to your phone calls, displaying them on your iphone or Android smartphone. 4 When you use ClearCaptions with your calls, it s similar to turning on closed captions for your TV shows; you hear AND read what s being said. ClearCaptions gives your hearing a helping hand. 2
Subtitles Viewer!: By Craig Grummitt View subtitles on your ios device, (not available for Android at this time but there are other similar apps) synchronized with television or movies on your TV, or at the cinema. Brilliant for when you're at a cinema watching a movie, and you need subtitles in your native language! Great also for the hearing impaired or deaf community. 5 TapTapSee - Blind & Visually Impaired Camera By Image Searcher TapTapSee is designed to help the blind and visually impaired identify objects they encounter in their daily lives. 6 Simply double tap the screen to take a photo of anything, at any angle, and hear the app speak the identification back to you (Note: Spoken identification requires VoiceOver to be turned on) 3
EyeNote By Bureau of Engraving and Printing EyeNote is a mobile device application to denominate Federal Reserve Notes (U.S. paper currency) as an aid for the blind or visually impaired to increase accessibility. Users can have the denomination of a note scanned and communicated back to the user. 7 Dragon Dictation By Nuance Communications Dragon Dictation is an easy-to-use voice recognition application powered by Dragon NaturallySpeaking that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text or email messages. In fact, it s up to five times faster than typing on the keyboard. 8 4
BioAid By Nicholas Clark BioAid is a research hearing aid designed by hearing scientists. It works by processing sound from the microphone and then playing it back over headphones in real time. The processing is designed to enhance sound clarity and regulate the loudness of ambient noise. To start using BioAid, you don't need a hearing test. Instead, you are invited to try a wide range of different settings to discover which one suits you best 9 Avaz Australia - AAC App for Autism Avaz is a full-featured, award-winning, research-based AAC app, that facilitates communication in children with autism spectrum disorders, Down sydrome, Angelmans syndrome, cerebral palsy, and other speech disabilities. Avaz is designed to make speech therapy more effective, develop the child s language and improve his/her intent to communicate. 10 5
There are many more apps available! A good source for finding even more apps designed to increase accessibility for those with mental or physical impairments is: http://www.appcessible.org/ Appcessible.org, a database of useful mobile and tablet apps. Specifically, apps that are designed to help users with additional needs. Whether it s an app to find the nearest disability friendly toilet or offer support around challenging behaviour, we want to list it. Useful ios & Android Apps Appcessible.org. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2015, from http://www.appcessible.org For autism apps: https://www.autismspeaks.org/autism-apps 11 All app preview images and app descriptions in this presentation were borrowed directly from the Apple App Store. App Store Downloads on itunes. (n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2015, from https://itunes.apple.com/us/genre/ios/id36?mt=8 12 6