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Hey HN! After months of work and over 1000 hours of research, design & development, we just released BeAware, an open-source & free Deaf Assistant iPhone app!

Hey HN! After months of work and over 1000 hours of research, design & development, we just released BeAware, an open-source & free Deaf Assistant iPhone app! - BeAware uses the in-built hardware to alert Deaf users of knocks on doors, baby crying for a deaf moms, sirens blaring for deaf delivery drivers. Earlier deaf users would have to purchase a separate "alerting devices" which would vibrate or flash LED's, something that they can do with this app now, even while it's running in the background in low power mode! - The app also performs highly performant Speech To Text in ~15 languages, even without an internet connection, designed to work great in the time of the pandemic. (Includes Arabic, Ukrainian, Chinese Simplified & Traditional, Spanish, French, ...) - The notepad feature allows users to type, or use pre-written phrases to display text to others who don't know ASL. It's super unique to where it allows the Deaf user to dictate the text through active audio and video calls! The app was designed to make their everyday lives easier and more inclusive. We'd love to get your feedback, and for your to share it with your friends :) Just tap the download button on the website. We plan to add AR and ML to the app if we get some traction & interest to enhance the deaf experience.

imglorp 4y ago
Thank you for making this app! It might sound counterintuitive, but some HoH (hard of hearing) users might actually be listening to media in the foreground when a noise triggers a background alert. They might have headphones or might have audio piped to aids over BT. So, it might make sense to pause foreground media, if that's possible, in order to let the user shift focus to the alerting noise, ideally isolating and amplifying the noise a little and sending it to the phone's audio output. Aids do this to some extent but maybe not when media is playing.
- saamerm 4y ago
  OMG Yes, thank you for your comment! You're right! That's exactly why we have added the ability to "Mark alert as critical" so that it will increase priority and provide notification even if your phone is in Do Not Disturb or Focus mode
ThePowerOfFuet 4y ago
> - BeAware uses the in-built hardware to alert Deaf users of knocks on doors, baby crying for a deaf moms, sirens blaring for deaf delivery drivers. Earlier deaf users would have to purchase a separate "alerting devices" which would vibrate or flash LED's, something that they can do with this app now, even while it's running in the background in low power mode! In what way is this an improvement over the functionality that's built right into iOS 14+? https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/sound-recognition-iphf2dc33312/ios https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/sound-recognition-iph... How are you paying for the development and maintenance given that the app is free and claims not to gather personal information of any sort?
- saamerm 4y ago
  Thank you for your comment u/ThePowerOfFuet Great question! Currently the sound recognition doesn't just measure "loud noises" or allow you to set a threshold above which to be alerted. You have to currently specify which sounds to select, and then the accuracy of those are also not that great. This app behaves like "alerting devices" that Deaf users currently pay to purchase, having to purchase and manage another gadget. Great question, if the app is open-source and free, we don't have ads, we collect no information, how do we make money? We are hoping to hit >10k active monthly users and a organically growing user base to justify putting in more time and personal money to create an AR module and an "Experience" module that uses Machine Learning. We hope to provide those as freemium features because those will require significantly more time to add, but will be an absolute game changer to Deaf Tech!
jraph 4y ago
Nitpick > baby crying for a deaf moms Or a deaf dad. Nowadays it's not just women handling babies. "a deaf parent" would get you covered :-) (could also target babysitters)
- saamerm 4y ago
  Oh yes you're right, thank you so much for your comment! Sorry it was past midnight & did this post really quick because I didn't think this post would pick up at all! Lol but yes, parents, baby sitters, deaf grand parents, etc.
  - JadeNB 4y ago
    Thank you for your enthusiastic and positive responses in this thread to constructive criticism. It's easy to get defensive about one's baby (software baby in this case), and it's refreshing to see someone so focused on getting it right, not on proving they're right.
    - saamerm 4y ago
      Jade thank you! I feel like I have this amazing opportunity to learn from everyone, from all around the world, so I might as well encourage more people to comment so I can learn from everyone's knowledge and experience :)
DavideNL 4y ago
I don't seem to see a specification of exactly what type of sounds it will alert for anywhere on the website or app...
- saamerm 4y ago
  Hey Davide thank you for your comment! Currently it just helps you BeAware of all noises that hit the noise threshold (60-90 decibels) that you set on your phone. We want to use ML in the next version to allow users to select what sounds they want to be alerted to "Baby Crying", "Fire Alarm", "Microwave beeping", etc.
greatpnwfood1 4y ago
RheingoldRiver 4y ago
> The notepad feature allows users to type, or use pre-written phrases to display text to others who don't know ASL. It's super unique to where it allows the Deaf user to dictate the text through active audio and video calls! I'm really interested in this feature - I have no hearing impairment, but with most colds, I get extremely long-lasting & severe laryngitis to the point where I'm effectively mute for a month at a time afterwards (though this hasn't been an issue since the pandemic started because I've been in isolation and not gotten sick). Prior to the pandemic I was actually considering learning some ASL to be able to communicate when I have laryngitis but this seems like a much easier solution. For phone calls, I could have a brief preset message explaining the situation and that I will be typing my responses and using TTS, and then I'm able to use the phone again. This looks fantastic! Are you planning to release an android version?
- saamerm 4y ago
  Thank you so much for your comment! Yes, that functionality is meant for people who aren't comfortable speaking or just mute. It would work perfectly for your case too! We want to release an android version asap, we just need more early access/Beta sign ups to the form on our website. Since this is all open-source voluntary for now, it's a huge investment of time and effort

imglorp 4y ago

Thank you for making this app! It might sound counterintuitive, but some HoH (hard of hearing) users might actually be listening to media in the foreground when a noise triggers a background alert. They might have headphones or might have audio piped to aids over BT. So, it might make sense to pause foreground media, if that's possible, in order to let the user shift focus to the alerting noise, ideally isolating and amplifying the noise a little and sending it to the phone's audio output. Aids do this to some extent but maybe not when media is playing.

saamerm 4y ago
OMG Yes, thank you for your comment! You're right! That's exactly why we have added the ability to "Mark alert as critical" so that it will increase priority and provide notification even if your phone is in Do Not Disturb or Focus mode

ThePowerOfFuet 4y ago

> - BeAware uses the in-built hardware to alert Deaf users of knocks on doors, baby crying for a deaf moms, sirens blaring for deaf delivery drivers. Earlier deaf users would have to purchase a separate "alerting devices" which would vibrate or flash LED's, something that they can do with this app now, even while it's running in the background in low power mode! In what way is this an improvement over the functionality that's built right into iOS 14+? https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/sound-recognition-iphf2dc33312/ios https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/sound-recognition-iph... How are you paying for the development and maintenance given that the app is free and claims not to gather personal information of any sort?

saamerm 4y ago
Thank you for your comment u/ThePowerOfFuet Great question! Currently the sound recognition doesn't just measure "loud noises" or allow you to set a threshold above which to be alerted. You have to currently specify which sounds to select, and then the accuracy of those are also not that great. This app behaves like "alerting devices" that Deaf users currently pay to purchase, having to purchase and manage another gadget. Great question, if the app is open-source and free, we don't have ads, we collect no information, how do we make money? We are hoping to hit >10k active monthly users and a organically growing user base to justify putting in more time and personal money to create an AR module and an "Experience" module that uses Machine Learning. We hope to provide those as freemium features because those will require significantly more time to add, but will be an absolute game changer to Deaf Tech!

jraph 4y ago

Nitpick > baby crying for a deaf moms Or a deaf dad. Nowadays it's not just women handling babies. "a deaf parent" would get you covered :-) (could also target babysitters)

saamerm 4y ago
Oh yes you're right, thank you so much for your comment! Sorry it was past midnight & did this post really quick because I didn't think this post would pick up at all! Lol but yes, parents, baby sitters, deaf grand parents, etc.
- JadeNB 4y ago
  Thank you for your enthusiastic and positive responses in this thread to constructive criticism. It's easy to get defensive about one's baby (software baby in this case), and it's refreshing to see someone so focused on getting it right, not on proving they're right.
  - saamerm 4y ago
    Jade thank you! I feel like I have this amazing opportunity to learn from everyone, from all around the world, so I might as well encourage more people to comment so I can learn from everyone's knowledge and experience :)

DavideNL 4y ago

I don't seem to see a specification of exactly what type of sounds it will alert for anywhere on the website or app...

saamerm 4y ago
Hey Davide thank you for your comment! Currently it just helps you BeAware of all noises that hit the noise threshold (60-90 decibels) that you set on your phone. We want to use ML in the next version to allow users to select what sounds they want to be alerted to "Baby Crying", "Fire Alarm", "Microwave beeping", etc.

greatpnwfood1 4y ago

RheingoldRiver 4y ago

> The notepad feature allows users to type, or use pre-written phrases to display text to others who don't know ASL. It's super unique to where it allows the Deaf user to dictate the text through active audio and video calls! I'm really interested in this feature - I have no hearing impairment, but with most colds, I get extremely long-lasting & severe laryngitis to the point where I'm effectively mute for a month at a time afterwards (though this hasn't been an issue since the pandemic started because I've been in isolation and not gotten sick). Prior to the pandemic I was actually considering learning some ASL to be able to communicate when I have laryngitis but this seems like a much easier solution. For phone calls, I could have a brief preset message explaining the situation and that I will be typing my responses and using TTS, and then I'm able to use the phone again. This looks fantastic! Are you planning to release an android version?

saamerm 4y ago
Thank you so much for your comment! Yes, that functionality is meant for people who aren't comfortable speaking or just mute. It would work perfectly for your case too! We want to release an android version asap, we just need more early access/Beta sign ups to the form on our website. Since this is all open-source voluntary for now, it's a huge investment of time and effort