Fbg 7.1
Going down again. I will have it in the 6's tomorrow.
I love this new Android phone, the Pixel 3a. It is very deaf friendly in several ways. I can individually customise the alerts (and I now have them on vibration only, and some on silent only, and important ones flash on the lock screen) in a way I couldn't with the iPhone.
Also because the iPhone traumatised me with those unexpected loud alerts, especially the phone ringing directly in my neural pathways, I cannot bear any unexpected noise now, even outside/other than the phone. It makes me jump out of my skin. I cannot identify noise anyway because I have never heard any of it in my life until I had the cochlear implant 10 years ago, and so my brain has no memory or basis to work or with.
J, my partner was to help me with this, it was to be an important part of my learning sound and identifying what noises were, because with always being profoundly deaf, I needed constant assistance to teach the brain. But he died in his sleep a few months later in the early hours of the end of May on what turned out to be a beautiful day of blue skies and amazing white clouds. He was an artist, and this his favourite subject he always painted.
So, I didn't get an important part of my training to learn about noise/sound.
This Pixel phone had something in its settings (amongst other helpful stuff) which Is called LiveTranscript (it is not a separate app, though I believe it can be installed as one). I have tried transcript apps from speech before and they have all been appalling.
This one is truly amazing. It is pretty near 100% accurate. I have been using it when I have gone somewhere for a breakfast, for example, and the waiter/waitress asks an unexpected question, and I know if I ask them to repeat it I am just not going to get it (because of their accent, lip movements etc), then I fish this phone out of my pocket (this LiveTranscript is left on the screen all the time) and I can see what they have asked me. In the diner, the lady had asked me if I wanted to sit in the sun or in the shade. So, that saved confusion for me, provided interest for the waitress who was fascinated that I fished out my phone to understand what she had said and talked with me about it, and consequently the whole thing made a lovely dining experience, and an attentive waitress. The problem is, there are many disabilities, and even with deafness there is not one 'rule/guidance' that can help us all. This LiveTranscript is a great ice breaker and gives the other person a basis on how much help I need and the type of help I need, without me trying to explain a concept they can't understand.
Anyway, the next two photos, both collages of screenshots, are something else the LiveTranscript does. It also identifies sound and noise in the environment. This was an amazing surprise. And you can click on the noise label it has just given, and it will give an explanation of that noise and maybe similar noises. The collages will show you that.
Also I couldn't find my phone. It turned out the cat, Popeye, was sitting on it. I fished it out from under him, and to my surprise it said 'Cat Sounds' and clicking on it gave me an explanation of the sound!! I think
@SaskiaKC will like that very much, and others of you who have cats
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