by Envoy Medical Staff Member, on July 1, 2023
Summer is in full swing, and many of us are getting ready to celebrate the Fourth of July weekend with parades, concerts, and, inevitably, some fireworks. While most of us pay close attention to our pets and children around fireworks, it's easy to forget the invariable potential for noise damage.
Explosive sounds like firecrackers are more hazardous to your hearing than other loud noises, says the Centers for Disease Control (CDC); they can exceed 150 decibels which is equivalent to a jet engine. If you are within a few yards of the firecrackers, you are in danger and should use hearing protection such as earplugs or noise-canceling earmuffs. If you are setting off your own fireworks, this is especially important due to being in close proximity. If you are simply watching, keep your distance! The further you are away from the origination of the sound, the more protected you are.
Learn more about protecting your hearing from fireworks from the American-Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) here.
Live Captioning in Beta
Do you ever wish you had a captioning tool in your pocket? If you have an iPhone, chances are you do.
iPhone recently integrated live captioning into its iPhone operating System (iOS). This means you don't need to use an app to take advantage of live captioning because it's part of the overall system.
Live Caption is currently in Beta testing, which is the portion of testing in which real users apply the software application in a real environment. The captioning tool can be used on FaceTime calls, streaming videos, or in-person live conversations.
How it works
Once set up, the captioning tool shows on your home page as a small semi-visible circle that you can move. When you click on the circle, it will expand into a rectangle box, and you will see text. You can tap the arrow in the right corner to expand the screen, tap the microphone icon to begin, or the parallel lines to pause. Clicking the arrow makes it disappear.
You could pull out your phone and quickly tap the circle on the home page and the microphone and be ready quite easily. Imagine ordering food at a counter with your phone casually on the counter picking up live captions.
You could pull out your phone and quickly tap the circle on the home page and the microphone and be ready quite easily. Imagine ordering food at a counter with your phone casually on the counter picking up live captions.
The tool also works on FaceTime calls which can be hard to understand. This is a nice and discreet way to have captioning during your call.
Trying out the live captioning tool might improve a challenging situation.
