# Software that can listen for specific sounds and alert those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2023, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-that-can-listen-for-specific-sounds-and-alert-those-who-are-deaf-or-hard-of-hearing/991895 "2023-10-21T17:56:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2023, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-that-can-listen-for-specific-sounds-and-alert-those-who-are-deaf-or-hard-of-hearing/991895/1 "2023-10-21T17:56:39Z")
I’m not deaf or hard of hearing, but I might as well be when I’ve got my headphones on and I’m listening to music or watching video. I’m looking for some software for Win11 or android that can listen for certain noises and throw a popup on my windows screen or buzz my phone to alert me about just those specific sounds. I do own headphones with sound pass-through options and if I’m listening to a podcast or a talking heads video, that’s fine, but that’s unacceptable when I want to enjoy the sound of what I’m watching or listening to. Ideally, it can be trained on hearing the sound of my name called, and the sound of a dog scratching at a door, but perhaps the noise level going over a certain volume might be good enough. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-that-can-listen-for-specific-sounds-and-alert-those-who-are-deaf-or-hard-of-hearing/991895/2 "2023-10-22T01:27:30Z")
> **[Sound Notifications: Get notified about important sounds around you - Android...](https://support.google.com/accessibility/android/answer/10092548)** > > Sound Notifications help you know what happens in your home. When Sound Notifications are on, your phone will always check for sounds you want notifications about, like when a smoke alarm beeps or a d If you’ve got a Pixel (and maybe other brands), it’s a built-in function, if not there is a link to a Google app at the Play Store in the support document. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-that-can-listen-for-specific-sounds-and-alert-those-who-are-deaf-or-hard-of-hearing/991895/3 "2023-10-22T03:45:06Z")
That app looked promising but apparently it’s not compatible with my phone, a Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Not the most recent model, but not exactly an ancient thing by any measure. Grrr. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-that-can-listen-for-specific-sounds-and-alert-those-who-are-deaf-or-hard-of-hearing/991895/4 "2023-10-22T03:51:45Z")
One selling point Google uses to sell Pixel phones is their ability to do things with audio (like voice transcription). Maybe they are gatekeeping those features away from other phones to sell Pixels or, maybe (I do not know), the AI Tensor chip on Pixels can do things other phones cannot. But yeah…their audio AI magic seems mostly locked into the Pixel. (I may be wrong, I have not checked all Android phones for this feature.) FTR: I have a Pixel 8 Pro but I am not a fanboy and I have no financial interest in Google (employed or invested in). ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-that-can-listen-for-specific-sounds-and-alert-those-who-are-deaf-or-hard-of-hearing/991895/5 "2023-10-22T05:31:14Z")
> [@Ponderoid](#): > > That app looked promising but apparently it’s not compatible with my phone Do you happen to have an iPad that’s less than about 7 or 8 years old? iPadOS has Sound Recognition built in. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-that-can-listen-for-specific-sounds-and-alert-those-who-are-deaf-or-hard-of-hearing/991895/6 "2023-10-22T07:40:42Z")
> [@Ponderoid](#): > > That app looked promising but apparently it’s not compatible with my phone, a Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Not the most recent model, but not exactly an ancient thing by any measure. Grrr. ⁢ That is bizarre. The app only seems to require Android 6, and your device would be running at least Android 8, if not Android 10. Sometimes I do find that the Play Store lies about what is compatible. Does the following Mirror work for you? > **[Live Transcribe & Notification (arm64-v8a) (Android 6.0+) APKs - APKMirror](https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/research-at-google/live-transcribe/variant-%7B%22arches_slug%22%3A%5B%22arm64-v8a%22%5D%2C%22minapi_slug%22%3A%22minapi-23%22%7D/)** > > Live Transcribe & Notification (arm64-v8a) (Android 6.0+) APKs - APKMirror Free and safe Android APK downloads ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-that-can-listen-for-specific-sounds-and-alert-those-who-are-deaf-or-hard-of-hearing/991895/7 "2023-10-22T14:26:58Z")
I have a current Samsung model, and the only difference from the Google support instructions linked above is that it’s found under a submenu: Settings \ Accessibility \ **Hearing Enhancements** \ Sound Notifications This is on Android 13, OneUI 5.1