Live Transcribe https://www.android.com/accessibility/live-transcribe/ is a new voice to text application that allows the hearing to communicate with the deaf and hearing impaired. We have used it extensively since it was in beta mode and find it very good. The creators partnered with Gallaudet University in Washington, DC for user input, and are using Google technology and Artificial Intelligence to power the application. Its user interface is simple and black and white. Currently Live Transcribe is available for Android devices. It has yet to be offered for iOS.

The Ava app https://www.ava.me allows for realtime text to speech to help the deaf and hearing impaired communicate with he hearing world. It allows the user to pick up on the conversations going on around him or her.

Video of how to use Ava: https://www.ava.me/ Currently Ava is available for use on both Android and iOS platforms. Thus you can use it on your Android phone or iPhone.

Skype https://www.skype.com/en/
Skype offers automatic captioning of calls. Microsoft is still rolling out this development, and its going to improve. But for now the feature is available through Skype version 8 on Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, Windows and Skype for Windows 10. Currently, Skype for Business does not offer captions.

Alexa https://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=10983873031
Amazon’s Alexa now allows for the input of specific commands through typing. There is also a captioning feature as well.

Google Keyboard https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.inputmethod.latin&hl=en_GB
The Google Keyboard or Goboard is free to download for both iOS and Android devices. It provides predictive text, easy google search, fast text input and other benefits to users.

Zoom https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/207279736-Closed-Captioning
Zoom offers closed captioning. Its manual and must be typed by the host or an assistant to the host or another participant in the conference call.

MotionSaavy http://www.motionsavvy.com/
MotionSaavy is the world’s first technological solution that translates sign language into grammatically correct spoken language.

CHILDREN VL2Storybook Apps http://vl2storybookapps.com/
This new application brings together English and American Sign Language (ASL) so that children can learn both through stories. It allows them to “watch” or “read” a story.