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Update 1 (5/10/19 to 23:53 ET): according to VentureBeatLive Caption will not be available on all devices running Android Q. More details below.
As consumers, we often take the world around us for granted. What we live supposes that all those around us live the same thing, if not the same. This presumption extends to all areas of our lives, including technology. But disabilities are real and living with them becomes a difficult task because of these assumptions. Accessibility is becoming an important topic and Google is helping people with disabilities to take full advantage of these experiences. Android Q incorporates several Google accessibility efforts to make Android a much more consistent experience, although all the features mentioned below are not available in Android yet.
Live Caption
Many of us never bother to take a second look at legendary settings, and we also consume a lot of media without even realizing that there is no caption. But for 466 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the world, legends serve a purpose more than practical – they are the very support of the experience. Android Q integrates live subtitles, allowing users of the deaf community to access the experiences with much greater ease and universality.
Once enabled, Live Caption will automatically subtitle the currently playing audio on your device with one click. Live Caption works with videos, podcasts, audio messages and any other application, even with items saved on the device. The captions will appear as soon as speech is detected during playback on the device. And as all this is done by voice recognition on the device, neither the sound nor the legends leave your phone and you can use the function without the need for Wi-Fi or cellular data.
Update 5/10/19: Google confirmed with VentureBeat this live legend "will come on some phones running Android Q later this year." Specifically, "some high-end devices," according to Brian Kemler, accessibility product manager for Android. The reason is apparently due to memory and space constraints. The initial deployment will be limited but will grow over time. Google plans to release a list of devices supporting Live Caption as the first public release of Android Q.
In addition, Google has confirmed that the backup of the transcript would not be possible with live subtitles (due to an intentional limitation of the AudioPlaybackCaptureConfiguration API), that it would not work with phone calls, voice calls or video calls (because it is not supported by the API), and this will only support English subtitling at launch. After the feature launches, an offline template will be downloaded and model updates will be served through Google Play services.
Live Relay
Live Relay builds on the ideas advanced by Live Caption by allowing people to make and receive calls without having to talk or hear.
Live Relay uses voice recognition built into the device and text-to-speech conversion to allow the phone to listen to an audio call, then express the answers to the name of the user who is calling them. typing. The feature works in parallel with predictive writing suggestion features such as Smart Compose and Smart Reply, making it easy to queue a live call by allowing quick answers. Live Relay works entirely on the device, so calls are always private. Because Live Relay interacts with the other side through a regular phone call, it can also work with landlines on the other side.
Although Live Relay is certainly useful for the deaf community and the dumb community, its use cases extend to situations in which a person may not be able to speak or hear a phone call at this point, but still wants to interact with him. Google is also optimistic about incorporating the real-time translation feature into Live Relay, which allows anyone to call anyone in the world and independently communicate language barriers.
Google indicates that Live Relay is still in the research phase. It is unclear if this feature has been integrated with current versions of Android Q; we think she will visit the Android devices later.
Live Transcribe – Extension for users with speech impairments
Live Transcript was introduced by Google earlier this year as a tool allowing deaf users to enjoy live transcription of the speech that surrounds them. The application aimed to make everyday conversations more accessible by converting real-world lyrics through the phone's microphone into real-time subtitles. Live Transcribe is already available in limited-access beta through the Play Store, with support for more than 70 languages and dialects. The application is also preinstalled on Pixel 3 devices.
Google's latest efforts to improve accessibility extend Live Transcribe to hearing-impaired users, but also users with speech impairments via the Euphonia project.
The Euphonia project team uses AI to improve the ability of a computer to understand various language patterns, including speech disorders. Google has partnered with non-profit organizations such as ALS Therapy Development Institute and ALS Residence Initiative to record the voices of people affected by ALS, then use these records to form AI models in order to transcribe more reliably the words spoken by people with this type of speech. difficulties. The current set of artificial intelligence algorithms works with the English language to meet the needs of people with ALS-related disabilities, but Google is optimistic about the research applied to larger groups and different speech impairments .
In addition, Google is also using this approach to form custom artificial intelligence algorithms to detect sounds and gestures, and then take actions such as generating voice commands for Google Home or sending text messages. . This use case is particularly useful for people who are severely disabled, unable to speak, and can only interact with sounds other than speech and facial gestures.
These new features do not seem to be available in Live Transcribe yet. Google is asking for help from volunteers who have trouble understanding the speech, and they are willing to record a set of phrases to help further train the system so that it works better. If you are eligible and wish to volunteer, please fill in the form.
Google's efforts to improve the accessibility of technology are certainly commendable. We hope that more software companies will strive to provide people with disabilities with equitable experiences around the world.
Source 1: Google Source 2: Google Source 3: Google
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