What Are Caption Apps for Hearing Loss?

Navigating hearing loss can be challenging, but caption apps can help make engaging with the world around you easier. You might use a phone with captions turned on at home or use subtitles when watching TV or movies, but interacting with people in real-time can be a source of anxiety. 

That’s where caption apps come in. Caption apps can help you understand conversations better by transcribing phone calls or speech in real-time, in a range of languages. This makes communicating with friends, colleagues, and family easier, reducing the fear of miscommunication or listening fatigue.1 

Now that you know the benefits, it’s time to dive in. Here are the best caption apps to aid your hearing loss. 
 

Best Caption Apps for Android and Apple iOS

Ava: using your smartphone’s microphone, this app captures speech that turns into a text conversation displayed on your screen.2 
With the highest possible accuracy using Ava Scribe, this app can easily transcribe any live conversation for friends, family, and organisations. 

CaptionMate: this free app instantly transcribes both sides of a phone call. It can be used for landline, computer or smartphone.3 
The app can caption over 100 languages. In real-time, you’ll receive captions and also be able to re-read conversations later, with all of them being saved. 

InnoCaption: this free captioning service provides fast and accurate captioning in real-time.4 With a pool of highly trained stenographers available 24/7, you’ll receive accurate captions and additional context during calls for greater clarity. 
 

Olelo Captioned Calls: this free app uses automatic speech recognition to provide live captions and saved transcripts for phone calls and voicemail.5 
Thanks to some of the fastest speech-to-text recognition software available, every word of your calls will be displayed in real-time.


Best Caption Apps for Apple iOS

Hamilton CapTel: gone are the days of stressing about miscommunication over the phone6. With this app, you can listen to and read captions of everything said to you over the phone. 


Hearing Helper - Live Captions: for friends, colleagues, and family of someone with hearing loss, this is a great app to ease communication.7 Using Apple’s Siri technology, you simply push and hold the mic to translate speech to text. 
You can edit any incorrect words with the opportunity to increase the font size for enhanced readability. 

ClearCaptions Mobile: this app provides real-time captioning for phone calls and allows users to save captioned conversations for later review.8 It is free of charge to those with hearing loss, so it is easy to receive captioned calls on the go. 


Best Caption Apps for Android

Live Transcribe and Sound Notification: this app makes it easy to engage in everyday conversations using just your mobile device.9 
You’ll receive real-time transcriptions in over 80 languages, be able to save transcripts for later reading and receive notifications when a sound event is triggered. 


Caption apps can be an effective and useful tool for better communication. By transcribing speech in real-time, these apps can help you connect and engage more fully with the people and world around you.10 Even so, the benefits of these apps are limited and shouldn’t be considered a replacement for professional hearing care. 

If you’re struggling with hearing loss, book an appointment at your local Connect Hearing clinic. Our friendly team will check your hearing and help you manage any concerns so you can be confident in your hearing health. 

 

References:

  1. JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surgery (1 August 2023), Hearing Loss and Fatigue in Middle-Aged and Older Adults, National Library of Medicine, accessed 29 November 2024.
  2. Transcense, Inc (n.d), Ava: Transcribe Voice to Text, apps.apple.com, accessed 29 November 2024. 
  3. CaptionMate (n.d.), What Is CaptionMate?, captionmate.com, accessed 29 November 2024
  4. InnoCaption (n.d.), InnoCaption: Features, innocaption.com, accessed 29 November 2024
  5. Caption Call by Sorenson (n.d.), Olelo Captioned Calls, olelophone.com, accessed 29 November 2024
  6. Hamilton Captel (n.d.), Hamilton Mobile CapTel, hamiltoncaptel.com, accessed 29 November 2024
  7. Mighty Fine Apps LLC (n.d.), Hearing Helper - Live Captions, apps.apple.com, accessed 29 November 2024
  8. Clear Captions (n.d.), Clear Captions: How Do Phone Captions Work?, clearcaptions.com, accessed 29 November 2024
  9. Google Play (n.d.), Live Transcribe and Notification, play.google.com, accessed 29 November 2024
  10. The Hearing Review (18 April 2024), Phone Captioning App Improves Communication for Users with Hearing Loss, https://hearingreview.com, accessed 29 November 2024.