thomsen.

On August 12, 2010, I had guest blogger Andrew Hall, who also has guest blogged for My Dog Ate My Blog and a writer on online schools for Guide to Online Schools, write a post on The 10 Most Useful iPhone Apps for the Deaf. This post was extremely popular and has gotten the most pageviews on this blog. I decided that we needed an update since it has been a year since the last post! 

The iPhone has been hugely useful for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. As a smartphone with an enormous library of applications, a number exist to better facilitate communication and make it possible to place and receive audio and/or video calls, among other things. As such, here are the latest ten apps to enhance one's iPhone experience and life in general.

Now I would like to take it up a notch once again, but this time, write a post on The Top 10 Apps for the Deaf for iPhone for 2011. 

1) Z4 Mobile: Z4 Mobile allows you to make both point-to-point and VRS calls on your iPhone 4 or iPod Touch (4th Generation). It turns iPhone 4 or iPod Touch into a mobile. By far, the best one that has the least amount of glitches and superior video clarity. 

2) Subtitles: Subtitles provides access to movie subtitles to use in real-time when watching movies on other devices, making it easier to follow dialogue when seeing films in theaters or in other settings. Note that the application's content is user-generated, so the quality of subtitles may vary. 

3) Captionfish: Historic mobile application is the first to offer streaming captioned movie trailers for the deaf and hard of hearing community on the iPhone. Here are some of the great features you can enjoy on this app: Effortless search, ability to find all the accessible show times playing at theaters within 60 miles of the selected area. You can watch movies trailers with captions as well as get the synopses for all current and upcoming movies. Lastly, you can find theater addresses and view their upcoming schedules!

4) Purple Communications: Unlike TTY or TDD systems, Purple Communications allows you to make phone calls and even better, video phone calls. You have the option to be connected to an operator who then reads your messages to the recipient and transcribes their messages back to you. Or better, you can video call your friends/families yourself and communicate via sign and if they're not there, you can leave a video message in ASL. 

5) Clear Captions: Clear Captions transcribes phone calls, as they happen, in English or in Spanish. Using a headset, Clear Captions allows you to see the text of a phone call in real-time while hearing it, making it much easier to understand conversations. ClearCaptions is a free captioning service that works together with your phone and your Internet-connected computer. ClearCaptions on your phone call is similar to closed captions on your TV; you can hear AND read what's being said. This takes the frustration out of hearing on the phone. Instead of asking people to repeat themselves or guessing at what was said, you can read the person's words which display during your call. 

6) Tap Tap: Tap Tap is designed to produce alerts when loud noises are made around the phone. With Tap Tap on, the iPhone will vibrate and flash to alert you that there's been a loud noise or that someone has spoken in your direction. It could provide hugely useful information -- that someone is knocking on your door, that an intercom has gone off, that you are being addressed -- might otherwise go unnoticed. 

7) Netflix: While this might be a controversial choice, along with various missteps within the company and a lawsuit against discrimination because Netflix does not provide subtitles for all tv shows and movies, Netflix has significantly increased the availability of subtitles during 2011 significantly. Plus Netflix has come close, or near their goal of having 80% of their streaming content having subtitles. That's a 50% increase since 2010! 

8) Tango: Will  you Tango with me? Nah, not dance, just chat. :-) This video chat is so easy and one of the best video chat out there. All  you need is a smartphone and a number and you can Tango with anyone who has a smartphone with a camera. Send and receive high quality video messages on Tango. Save money with free international calls to other Tango members. Start a phone call with Tango and switch to a video call when you have something to show by tapping the camera icon. Tango automatically find the friends that already have Tango. Plus, no log in and password - create an account in less than five seconds! Only downside is that you have to pay .99 cents if you pass the video message limit. 

9) TuneWiki: TuneWiki is a fun and entertaining free app that not only displays the lyrics of the song playing, but also highlights the line being sung – amazing for people who are deaf or hard of hearing– even more amazing-it even translates the words into any other language. Fun, free and deaf-friendly...can't get better than that!

10) imo: Best Multi-Chat Client Messenger of 2011! With imo instant messenger, it's easy to stay in touch with friends on your existing IM accounts on Facebook Chat, Google Talk, Skype, MSN, ICQ/AIM, Yahoo, Jabber, and Myspace, Vkontakte.ru, Hyves. Best feature: No need to create an account with imo. Here's some other perks: concurrent sessions on different devices, chat history search and browse, voice IMs, group chat, photo sharing in group chats, and lastly, but not withstanding, multimedia attachments - audio, video, files!