Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Android phones can now notify you when they detect certain sounds, which could notify people who are deaf or hard of hearing about important sounds nearby.
If you turn on the feature, called Sound Notifications, you can have your Android phone inform you about some sounds via a push notification, a flash from your camera light, or by making your phone vibrate. Other devices support Sound Notifications as well, including Wear OS devices, which can send Sound Notifications via text notifications with vibrations. And they work entirely offline, according to Google.
Google says Sound Notifications can listen for ten different noises:
- Smoke and fire alarms
- Sirens
- Shouting
- Baby sounds
- Doorbell ringing
- Knocking
- Dog barking
- Appliance…