Do You Experience Difficulty with Recognizing Sounds? There’s an App for That.

Sound Recognition is a feature on iPhones that lets users who have hearing loss receive visual alerts for sounds such as smoke alarms, sirens, door bells/knocks, and dog barks. Internet connection is not necessary in order to use this feature. It uses onboard intelligence (the use of artificial intelligence, or AI, that is found in the device). 

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use it.

1. Open the “Settings” app on your iPhone. 
2. Under the settings app, tap on “Accessibility”.
3. In Accessibility, scroll to the “Hearing” section, and tap on “Sound Recognition”.
4. In the “Sound Recognition” setting, tap the switch next to “Sound Recognition” to turn it on. Then tap the “Sounds” and select which sounds you want your iPhone to recognize. Any, or even all, sound combinations can be activated. 

On the screen, there will be a list of different sounds. Yours may feature:

• Fire Alarm
• Siren
• Smoke Alarm
• Fire
• Cat
• Dog
• Appliances
• Car Horn
• Door Bell
• Door Knock
• Water Running
• Baby Crying
• Shouting
• Coughing

After making those changes to your Sound Recognition settings, tap “Back” once, then exit Settings.  

You can test out the app’s Sound Recognition feature by searching for “Dog” or “Baby crying” videos on YouTube. When it’s triggered, the Sound Recognition will give you an alert notification at the top of your screen. 

If you need help with setting up this feature, our hearing instrument specialists will be happy to help. If you need new hearing aids, contact us at Pure Sound Hearing for a free hearing test and consultation. 

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