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Wearing a mask is mandatory in almost all the Autonomous Communities of Spain. And in summer it is something that is not usually very comfortable. Our breath reverberates on our face, raising the temperature, already very high. Sometimes we find it hard to breathe and, in general, it is very uncomfortable to wear. This is aggravated in people who work in front of the public and must carry it throughout their working day.
But this is not the only problem related to masks.When we wear them and talk, our message comes through muffled and muffled. This, in a person with normal hearing abilities, should not be a major inconvenience. But, what about people who are hard of hearing and need to understand a person who is forced to wear a mask? The task is arduous and usually does not come to fruition. Is there a solution for this?
Instant transcription, an app to keep in mind
The 'Hoth Intern' Twitter account has published a tweet in which a video appears of a paramedic explaining the best waythat we can make ourselves understood when we wear a mask and talk to people with hearing problems.
Then the video.
For those of us who have hearing problems, the use of a mask is a significant handicap. This paramedic has solved it through technology pic.twitter.com/RCkFgFNVwC
- Scholar on Hoth (@becarioenhoth) July 19, 2020
The application that this paramedic uses in the video to communicate, in writing, everything he is saying, so that the interlocutor can read it and understand it correctly is called 'Instant Transcription' and it is available at the Android Google Store. It is a free application, developed by Google itself and has no ads or purchases inside. It has a weight of
The application is surprisingly easy to use. You just have to open it, give it microphone permissions, because if we don't give it to it, it won't be able to listen to what we say, and start talking. At this precise moment, you will see how everything you say appears in the text with almost no errors, with quite good precision. In this way, if you put the mobile with the screen in front of your interlocutor's face, he or she will be able to read what you are saying at all times, even if you are wearing a mask.Of course, you can also use this app to talk to completely deaf people.
If you look at the bottom of the screen, you have a gear icon through which you can configure the size of the font, to make the text easier to read. Transcripts are saved in the application for three days, as long as they are enabled in the corresponding section, and then they are automatically deleted. In addition, if there are overlapping sounds while we are talking to the application, such as external whispers or music, the application will indicate this so that the other party can take it into account.
The instant transcriptionist does not only work in Spanish: it can also transcribe everything a person is saying to you in English, German, French , etc. All you have to do is set the primary language to the appropriate one.
Within the 'More settings' section in the application, we can add a secondary language, add words or expressions that are not common be in dictionaries, delete transcription history, vibrate when we say a certain name, etc.
In this simple way, people with low hearing capacity will be able to hear a person wearing a mask.
