News

Top 5 Fire Safety Devices for People with Hearing Loss

A fire can start anywhere, anytime. In fact, residential fires occur more frequently in the colder months. And according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 51% of all house fire deaths occur from 11pm to 7am when most people are asleep. Because a majority of fire alarms are auditory, people with hearing loss are more susceptible to the dangers of house fires – especially in the nighttime.

Prepare yourself by learning about the variety of smoke alarms and fire safety devices available for people with hearing loss.

Find Your Voice: Top Free Text-To-Speech Apps for Adults

Speech technology has rapidly improved since the start of the century. Speech technology is the assistive software that reads digital text aloud or transcribes speech into text. You’ve most likely ran across this sort of technology before; Siri, Alexa, and GPS voices are making text-to-speech & speech-to-text software mainstream. It is as reliable as ever. With so many apps to choose from, it can be overwhelming trying to find a perfect match.

Find your voice with our list of the top free text-to-speech apps for adults.

New Innovations in Hearing-Assistive Devices

HATs off to Hearing Assistive Technology! (See what we did there?) They’re the devices dedicated to helping you hear better – and communicate easier – no matter where you are. And thanks to ever-evolving smartphone technology, they’re doing it with even more precision, sophistication and convenience than ever before.

Read on to learn more about the newest innovations in hearing-assistive devices and what they can do for you.

“Tap to Alexa” – Smart Speakers Evolving for Hearing Loss

We are living in the golden age of assistive devices. It seems like every day comes with new and exciting advancements that further promote accessibility and empower individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind and/or speech disabled. Alexa is Amazon’s personal assistant program. Alexa, and similar personal assistants such as Google Home and Apple’s Siri, perform actions and scour the web for information based off of voice commands. One of the most recent advancements in accessibility is a new feature for Amazon’s Echo smart speakers called “Tap to Alexa.”

Read on to learn more about the latest advancement in smart speaker accessibility.

Best Phones and Apps for Hearing Loss

Over the last few decades, technology has advanced rapidly, making way for software and devices that are inexpensive, convenient and more helpful than ever before for hard of hearing individuals. In an effort to help you sort through the options out there today, we’ve put together a list of some of the best phones and apps available for individuals with hearing loss.

Read on to learn more about this lineup of helpful solutions for the hard of hearing.

Top 5 Amplified Phones for Seniors

All amplified phones are not created equal! From a phone’s design to the features it comes with, it can be confusing to know which one is right for you. We turned to Amazon, one of the world’s largest online retailers, to find some of the highest-rated cordless and corded amplified phones available from Relay South Dakota.   

Check out the top five amplified phones for seniors, as rated by Amazon.com consumer reviews. 

Top Apps for People with Hearing, Vision or Speech Disabilities

Can you believe mobile apps have only been around for 10 years? From on-the-go banking and fitness trackers to social media, games and more - it’s hard to imagine life without our smartphones and tablets. And the innovations just keep coming!

Check out our latest tech roundup, featuring 5 useful apps for people with hearing, vision or speech disabilities.

Look Who’s Talking: Internet-Based Relay Services for South Dakotans

A History of Captioning: Where It Started and Where It’s Going

Ever since Samuel Morse invented the telegraph in 1837, we’ve been using machines for long-distance communication.

But it wasn’t until the 1950s that captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing people became mainstream in the film industry – and we had to wait for the Telecommunications Act of 1982 for mandated telephone access for all.   

When you look at it that way, captioned services have come a long way in 35 years.

Let’s see how far we’ve come. Take a look back on the history of captioning.

Your Guide to Hearing Implants: Your Options & How They Work

If you’ve experienced hearing loss in your daily life, there’s a chance that a hearing implant might be a good fit for your situation. If your audiologist recommends it, you have several options when it comes to implants.

Here are just a few of the potential options your audiologist might present to you, depending on the level and nature of your hearing loss.