Brief description of the application

ListenAll is an application to use with mobile devices, either for IOS or Android. Its function is to recognize the voice of the speaking person and transcribe it into text, in a structured way so that deaf or hard of hearing people can communicate. As well as the preparation of documents through dictation, helping people with motor deficits.

To check, analyze and assess the usefulness of the application for deaf or hard of hearing people, and people with motor disabilities, Pepe, our volunteer specialized in product testing for people with reduced or no hearing, has carried out different tests in typical scenarios day-to-day conversation as well as dictation tests.

Conversation between two people in a silent environment

During the tests carried out in this way, he tells us that it works really well, since there is no background noise, the capture of sound and therefore words is much more efficient, achieving a very good instantaneous transcription.
It is very pleasantly surprising how the text is structured as it transcribes.

He also tells us that it has been very convenient for him to be able to pause the transcription at any time, either to correct an error in the text or because the speaking person takes a break, etc.

As in other voice recognition applications, it is necessary to ensure that the interlocutors are not too far apart because the mobile microphone is limited, and the distance causes it a lot, causing mistakes or gaps due to lack of reception.

Conversation between two people in a noisy environment or on the street

In this mode it depends on where we are and on the ambient noise itself, on the proximity and position of the mobile to be able to capture the words well and that the user can read the text that is being transcribed on the screen well. It works fine but limited by background noise.

It is interesting and he recommends us to bring an external microphone or a headset with a microphone, he connects it and is used by the person who, when speaking, the microphone picks up the audio of the words very well and the transcription improves considerably. You can also use a microphone by bluetooth connection, so that it allows greater distance between the people who establish communication.

Conversation between more than two people inside a house

With the microphone of the phone it often falls short because of the limitation of this. For example, at a table with 4 people, the lack of capture of the words of the furthest interlocutor can be seen. The use of an external microphone is recommended to ensure better sound pickup. And it must be emphasized that they try to speak in an orderly manner and avoid speaking at the same time, even though it is sometimes difficult.

Create documents using voice dictation

This function also helps people with motor deficits, which prevents them, for example, from writing documents properly.

It is really simple, by pressing the microphone icon you can start the dictation, the text is structured very well with its commas, periods and followed, paragraphs, etc. It is really impressive. Very in its favor the option to pause and continue at any time with the transcription, correct errors when pausing it, and be able to save, to later edit, share or print the text.

Either to prepare interviews, agenda, notes of work, etc. It is a function for work and educational use that greatly favors accessibility for people with hearing and motor deficits.

Educational use

It is a great application for this purpose. Facilitates inclusion in the follow-up of classes or events. Easy to use by both teachers and students.

On the part of the teaching staff

It allows the teacher who has students with hearing impairments to prepare and share the contents with the students easily and immediately. Even using a lavalier or lavalier microphone, you can transcribe class development in real time.

On the part of the students

It allows to receive in real time the explanations that the teacher is dictating. in class using an external microphone. Just as if the teacher. prepares the content in the form of dictation by text, you can share it so that later it can be edited, modified and recorded according to the criteria of the student.

Track other events

Following colloquia, talks or lectures is only possible with the use of an external microphone.

Integration in the Application AbilityConnect

He wants to comment on this point since he considers it very important and essential. You have used the application both to follow conversations and to prepare documents by voice dictation, for example, this report.

This app can be used as much as ListenAll or through its total integration in the app AbilityConnect. In summary, it must be said that it multiplies the use and connectivity between users who need it.

It's like using the app ListenAll but connecting multiple devices. The one who emits the text can transcribe the content in real time to various devices via Wi-Fi, data or bluetooth connection.

It has also tested between several devices and it works very well, each one receives the exact same thing. The issuer can broadcast in spoken or written form.

Conclusion

Great application that favors accessibility to communication for people with hearing and motor problems. It contributes to communication efficiently, although sometimes limited, and can be considerably improved through the use of microphones external to the mobile.

Remember that you do not need an internet connection so you can make instant transcriptions, you only have to download the language pack to use. In certain scenarios, the transcription is really good as long as you speak well and the microphone of the mobile phone captures the sound correctly.

It allows for simple and very useful customization settings. From forcing it to work only through Wi-Fi connection, language, text and background color, size and font type.

In a noisy environment or with several people, we strongly recommend the use of an external microphone that will allow us to better capture the sounds than the telephone microphone, as a reporter or centering it when there are several people gathered.

Very good for creating documents using voice dictation. The text is structured quickly and logically.

For educational use or class monitoring, recommend the app AbilityConnect in which it is perfectly integrated. Since it allows a fluid communication and to several recipients, either by Wi-Fi connection, data or bluetooth. Wi-Fi connection corrects bluetooth distance limitation.

For him it has become an application really useful and indispensable, undoubtedly improves communication between deaf or hard of hearing people, it also allows to prepare documents quickly, easily and without ads or advertising.

Highlights

• Ease of use, installation and configuration.
• Quick and easy adjustments.
• Ability to pause and continue the transcription of the text at any time.
• Possibility of saving the transcription for editing, being able to continue the dictation later.
• Possibility to choose from a multitude of languages.
• Possibility of connecting an external microphone to improve the quality of sound reception.

Improvement points

• It would be nice to have keyboard access to make corrections or annotations without having to pause and record the transcript.
• Possibility of using more than one microphone to capture the sound correctly, for example in family or business meetings.
• The possibility of using the microphones of intelligent systems, such as Google Home or Echo from Amazon, would be interesting, so that well distributed in a room it can capture the words well enough so that the person using the application does not lose the conversation.
• It would be of great help if, apart from the instant transcription you make, you could translate into the selected language, thus facilitating communication with people of different nationalities or when traveling abroad.