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Sound awareness

Also known as: Sound recognition, Environmental sound detection

Technology that detects and identifies sounds in the user's environment and conveys that information through alternative modalities such as visual notifications or haptic alerts. For deaf and hard-of-hearing users, sound awareness systems can identify doorbells, fire alarms, speech, or approaching vehicles, though they raise fairness questions about which sounds to prioritize and how to handle misclassification of safety-critical alerts.

Category: assistive technology · deaf and hard of hearing · artificial intelligence

Related: Sensory augmentation · Captioning · Haptic · Vibrotactile feedback

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