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Smartphone Tech: The Digital Hub of A Wireless Accessibility Plan

Smartphone Tech could ease out the problems of deaf adults with a viable accessibility plan. People with hearing challenges often do not seek out the assistance provided by the traditional ear-level amplification devices for multiple reasons. The reasons vary from cost, accessibility, and others factors related to poor hearing aid quality.  

The consensus report, “Hearing Health Care for Adults: Priorities for Improving Access and Affordability,” published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in 2016 encouraged the development of innovative technologies, with particular attention to “compatibility and interoperability of hearing technologies.”

It is serendipitous that upgrades in smartphone technology coincided with the urgency to improve the accessibility and affordability of hearing technology-based devices. The number of people being active users of smartphone technology has increased to 3.8 billion in the last decade. The smartphone’s ability to access multiple microphones at a time helps in improving signal processing.

The smartphone could enact as a remote microphone, and placed close to the talker so that the signal to noise radiations improves and communication becomes more flexible. The benefits of rapid microphone technology are well-drafted in the research theories. It seemed that the stars were destined to improve hearing care in adults with the help of wireless transmitting devices.

The smartphone solution required technical sophistication particularly with connectivity to ear-level receivers. Smartphone market penetration is greater than 80 percent among people aged 75 years. Hardly a day goes by without an email announcement or social media post about new wireless technology or an app that is designed to facilitate communication not only for those with reduced sensory input. But the devices with normal sensitivity also need to connect to far-off places, background noises, or connect in different languages.

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