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iOS 14 Can Notify Users About Sounds Like Fire Alarms and Doorbells

I'm mildly hearing impaired and I very likely will make use of this feature. My dog barks when people are at the door so that's no worry, but I have had trouble hearing a baby cry occasionally.
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I'm mildly hearing impaired and I very likely will make use of this feature. My dog barks when people are at the door so that's no worry, but I have had trouble hearing a baby cry occasionally.
 
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Northern Man said:
Most hard of hearing people have chosen (or should) to wear a hearing aid. This is just Apple intruding into more of your life for $$$. Apple's disclaimer is so wide that it is clear this is nothing but a gimmick that may work in some cases. If one chooses to put their safety in the hands of Mr. Cook, all the best....
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That is incredibly ignorant of disabilities and basic medicine.
 
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Well, it depends on the type of fire alarm. Many people assume that all building fire alarms are just bells, because that's how it is in movies and TV, and I know in Canada bells are still a fairly common fire alarm signal, but in the USA they are increasingly rare as they are replaced with modern fire alarm systems, typically utilizing either a loud high-pitched smoke alarm-like beep, or a voice-evacuation system (this is especially common in high-rises, newer schools and hospitals, and any other large occupancy/assembly areas.) Heck, all my public schools had really old fire alarm systems that made a very loud scoreboard-like buzzer noise, and those are often being replaced with new alarm systems as well. Though regarding the modern beeping kind, I would assume iOS 14 would definitely recognize that as a fire alarm signal, since they usually sound on the "Temporal" coding, which most household smoke alarms also sound on.
 
Northern Man said:
You have that backwards. It will make "dumb" people smart by having to rely upon a too expensive Pod to tell them what to do in their own home.
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That's small picture thinking. The same argument was made for smart lights and switches when they first came out. "Wow people are lazy to even turn on a light bulb themselves" - now that we see the power of automation control, energy saving, and customization they have taken off.

Same thing with appliances. Imagine having HomePod identify when your washing machine is done based on its unique beep, send a notification to your iPhone, so if you are outside on your patio you can run inside to put the laundry in your dryer.
 
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Northern Man said:
Most hard of hearing people have chosen (or should) to wear a hearing aid. This is just Apple intruding into more of your life for $$$. Apple's disclaimer is so wide that it is clear this is nothing but a gimmick that may work in some cases. If one chooses to put their safety in the hands of Mr. Cook, all the best....
Click to expand...

I'm only 43 and started developing tinnitus in my left year, which is an indication of hearing loss. It's extremely annoying, and this morning I woke up with no hearing in my left ear at all. Why is this happening? No idea, but millions of people suffering hearing problems.

Your glass-half-empty viewpoint misses out on the bigger picture. Implementing these features in the real world are not always driven by profits (directly), but it's about the continual progression and evolution of technology.

Just think about the human body, how refined it is. This is due to evolution, the continual refinement of "features" of the body over millions of years. Nature doesn't say "okay, that's enough, stop evolving". Why should technology stop evolving and being refined?
 
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Northern Man said:
Most hard of hearing people have chosen (or should) to wear a hearing aid. This is just Apple intruding into more of your life for $$$.
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I can tell you that a hearing aid doesn’t solve hearing issues, but only assists. Especially if you have long term hearing issues; the brain isn’t trained the same way.

This feature is really a last resort kind of thing for the deaf and very hard of hearing. It is not meant to replace other assistive technologies like strobe lights, etc. But it’s possible it can save a life especially if, let’s say, someone who is deaf is in a new environment and can’t easily discern what’s happening.
 
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MonstaMash said:
That's small picture thinking. The same argument was made for smart lights and switches when they first came out. "Wow people are lazy to even turn on a light bulb themselves" - now that we see the power of automation control, energy saving, and customization they have taken off.

Same thing with appliances. Imagine having HomePod identify when your washing machine is done based on its unique beep, send a notification to your iPhone, so if you are outside on your patio you can run inside to put the laundry in your dryer.
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If you are so energy conscious why are you using a dryer? Putting washing on an indoor rack (or outdoors weather and laws permitting) to dry is the sensible way to do it. Common sense and caring for the environment does not require tools from mega 'don't give a s=== corporations. This is big picture action :D
 
dandeco said:
Though regarding the modern beeping kind, I would assume iOS 14 would definitely recognize that as a fire alarm signal, since they usually sound on the "Temporal" coding, which most household smoke alarms also sound on.
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Household alarms are what it needs to respond to because, at least in the US, commercial systems are required to have strobes for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, which is of course more reliable than using an app.
 
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coolfactor said:
I'm only 43 and started developing tinnitus in my left year, which is an indication of hearing loss. It's extremely annoying, and this morning I woke up with no hearing in my left ear at all. Why is this happening? No idea, but millions of people suffering hearing problems.

Your glass-half-empty viewpoint misses out on the bigger picture. Implementing these features in the real world are not always driven by profits (directly), but it's about the continual progression and evolution of technology.

Just think about the human body, how refined it is. This is due to evolution, the continual refinement of "features" of the body over millions of years. Nature doesn't say "okay, that's enough, stop evolving". Why should technology stop evolving and being refined?
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I feel for you. My wife has tinnitus and it is not pleasant. But I don't think Apple alerting one to various sounds at varying levels of reliability is much of a solution. Especially from a company that has a habit of selling products it knows are defective (butterfly keyboards, iPads with "touch disease" etc.) over multiple years. If you feel it provides some assistance, more power to you. But don't rely upon it.
 
Northern Man said:
If you feel it provides some assistance, more power to you. But don't rely upon it.
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And that is the point; this is not yet a technology that can be relied upon; like you said, even Apple admits this. But it is entirely possible it one day will be. For the deaf person who’s life it may one day save, it will be enough to justify all the false positives.

Those false positives? Definitely need to be understood as warnings and not calls to actions.
 
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It wasn't really clear in the video but they made it seem that devices like nest would now work with HomeKit since apple open sourced HomeKit and is working with Google and Amazon. Anyone able to clarify.
 
Mr. Awesome said:
I’m sure this will be a very helpful feature for the hard of hearing, but I wonder what the battery impact will be...
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Probably nonexistent seeing as Hey Siri doesn’t. It’s likely just an expanded use of that subsystem.
 
coolfactor said:
I'm only 43 and started developing tinnitus in my left year, which is an indication of hearing loss. It's extremely annoying, and this morning I woke up with no hearing in my left ear at all. Why is this happening? No idea, but millions of people suffering hearing problems.

Your glass-half-empty viewpoint misses out on the bigger picture. Implementing these features in the real world are not always driven by profits (directly), but it's about the continual progression and evolution of technology.

Just think about the human body, how refined it is. This is due to evolution, the continual refinement of "features" of the body over millions of years. Nature doesn't say "okay, that's enough, stop evolving". Why should technology stop evolving and being refined?
Click to expand...
You might look into Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss. It’s far more common than most people realize and only affects one ear, often the right one. The causes of most are idiopathic but if you get treated quickly enough it has a good chance of being restored. People aren’t aware but it’s considered an emergency room type thing and most people will get a steroid injection in their ear. I’d recommend talking to an ENT.

On topic... I think this is just the start of really useful features that will greatly improve the quality of life of those who have a disability. It’ll be rough at first but over time I expect this to be more useful than even fall detection on the watch or heart rate monitoring.
 
Siren Notification would need to instantly be disabled in a place like NYC. Your phone would never stop buzzing!
 
konqerror said:
Household alarms are what it needs to respond to because, at least in the US, commercial systems are required to have strobes for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, which is of course more reliable than using an app.
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That's right. All my public schools did not have strobes on their fire alarms, as they were really old. One of them did have flashing incandescent lights accompanying the horns, but that's not as effective as real strobes, and in at least one part of the building the lights didn't work. Said school now has a more modern fire alarm system with strobes after the old one started failing over five years ago (as the system was original to the school's construction in 1974.) But with that said, household smoke alarms and many modern commercial fire alarm systems tend to sound alike when sounding on the "Temporal" coding, so maybe that's what iOS 14 will largely respond to, any high-pitched noise sounding in the "Temporal" coding, wether there are strobes or not.
 
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