Amplify Sounds Using iPhone with SoundAMP Hearing Assistant App

Author: Ian C. Langtree - View Credentials
Published: 7 Mar 2011 - Updated: 6 Feb 2015

Table of Contents:
Synopsis - Overview - Related Content

Synopsis

soundAMP is a personal Hearing Assistant app for the iPhone that makes your iPhone into a hearing device by amplifying sounds.

Overview

The soundAMP app, as featured in various accessiblity sections of the Apple website, works in many situations where it may be difficult to hear or if you have a hearing impairment.

Users who are hard of hearing may find the app useful in many situations, such as around the dinner table, watching TV, at parties, or in the classroom.

The app, developed by Ginger Labs, processes sounds picked up by the iOS device's built-in mic and sends an amplified signal in real time to a listener's earbuds. You can also use a headset with a built-in mic.

The app, which has been purchased by over 40,000 customers in more than 55 countries, is the perfect solution for boosting sound levels when conversing around the home, watching TV, in lectures, at parties, or wherever you need to hear, or overhear, other people around you.

Simple-to-use controls allow you to fine-tune the amplified sound with the equalizer, adjust background sound levels for each situation, and replay the last 30 seconds of sound heard.

soundAMP provides sonic clarity at all volume levels, with limited distortion, as well as amplifying soft and medium sounds and softening louder sound levels.

Other Features of the app Include:

• Supports iOS4 multitasking - Multitasking works on iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 3rd & 4th generations.
• You can use the built-in mic on the device, or an external mic, like the one that's built into the standard iPhone headphones.
• Large buttons make it easy to adjust volume and tone for each individual need, as well as the setting you are in at any given time.
• Manually adjust how loud you'd like the sound amplification to be, and choose from several different equalizer settings to specify which frequencies you'd like boosted most.

soundAMP 2.1.4 ($4.99 or $0.99 for soundAMP Lite), requires iOS version 3.1.2 or later and is compatible with iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. File size: 7.0 MB.

The app is available from the Apple iTunes shop.

Author Credentials: Ian C. Langtree is a writer, editor, and the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Disabled World, which he established in 2004 as one of the longest-running independent resources for disability news and information. Over more than two decades, he has written and edited thousands of articles on disability rights, health, accessibility, and assistive technology. Drawing on a global perspective shaped by extensive travel and lived experience, Ian is a committed advocate of the Social Model of Disability, the framework developed by disabled activists in the 1970s that focuses on removing societal barriers rather than on individual impairments. His writing is grounded in that framework and in a lasting commitment to disability rights, accessibility, and social inclusion. To learn more about Ian's background, expertise, and accomplishments, visit his full biography.