Assistive Technology Blog

March 8, 2024

Protecting Seniors Experiencing Cognitive Decline: A Guide to Common Phone Scams and How to Stay Safe

Scam calls and robocalls are a growing menace.  This is particularly true for seniors experiencing cognitive decline, such as from dementia.  Thieves take advantage of their trust, lack of comprehension, and limited familiarity with technology.  This article addresses the following: Data demonstrating the extent of the phone scam threat. The most common types of phone […]

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January 15, 2024

4 Best Simple Cell Phones for Seniors in 2024

In this blog post, RAZ Mobility identifies and reviews some of the best cell phones for seniors. We examine the phones based on three criteria: (1) ease of use, (2) loudness of the audio, and (3) clarity and contrast of the text for individuals with vision loss. All three of these characteristics are important for […]

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January 15, 2024

A Great Cell Phone for Parkinson’s, Hand Tremors, and Arthritis

The RAZ Memory Cell Phone is designed for seniors who need or want a very simple solution, perhaps because they are experiencing cognitive decline.  Unfortunately, many seniors who have cognitive decline also experience hand tremors or lack of mobility as a result of Parkinson’s disease, stroke, or arthritis.  For these individuals, the RAZ Memory Cell […]

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January 15, 2024

The Best Cell Phone for Stroke Victims in 2024

The RAZ Memory Cell Phone was specifically designed for seniors with cognitive decline.  As such, it is frequently a very good choice for people who have experienced a stroke.  In a recent customer survey, it was reported that close to 10% of seniors using the RAZ Memory Cell Phone, were doing so because they had experienced a […]

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January 15, 2024

3 Best Phones for Seniors with Dementia or Alzheimer’s in 2024

This post reviews three popular cell phones for seniors with Dementia or Alzheimer’s. These include:  RAZ Memory Cell Phone KidsConnect KC2 Jitterbug Flip2 RAZ Memory Cell Phone – the Best Phone for Dementia or Alzheimer’s in 2024   The RAZ Memory Cell Phone is the only cell phone specifically designed for seniors with dementia or […]

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December 1, 2023

Best AAC Device – Groundbreaking New Approach 2024

According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), five to ten percent of Americans have communication disorders,1 and more than 2 million Americans communicate with AAC (augmentative and alternative communication).2  Voiceitt’s solution is a giant leap forward in technology that helps people with speech disabilities communicate without an AAC device.  Instead, the Voiceitt2 solution relies on cutting-edge […]

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November 10, 2023

Music Therapy for Dementia – Improve Wellbeing

While there is currently no cure for dementia, there are various strategies and therapies that can help improve the quality of life for those living with the condition. One such powerful therapy is music.  Recognizing the power of music for people with dementia, such as Alzheimer’s, RAZ Mobility has partnered with the non-profit Mind&Melody to […]

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July 27, 2023

6 Top Cell Phones for People Who are Blind or Visually Impaired in 2023

This post reviews six popular cell phones for people who are blind or visually impaired. Three of these are basic cell phones: the MiniVision2+, RAZ Memory Cell Phone, and Jitterbug Flip2. The remaining three are smartphones: the SmartVision 3, Google Pixel, and the iPhone. SmartVision 3 MINIVISION2+ CELL PHONE RAZ Memory Cell Phone Jitterbug Flip2 […]

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January 21, 2021

Best Practices for Live Transcribe

This is an excerpt of an article that appeared at livetranscribe.medium.com.  The authors are Chet Gnegy, Sagar Savla and Dimitri Kanevsky from Google.  It has been nearly two years since we launched Live Transcribe. In that time, we’ve heard lots of great stories from people about their creative uses and applications to get access to free […]

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October 29, 2020

The Google Pixel Smartphone for People with Hearing Loss – an Analysis

  The Google Pixel Smartphone for People with Hearing Loss – an Analysis Apple made significant effort to make the iPhone accessible to individuals who are blind. The result was that Apple captured hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of incredibly loyal customers with vision loss. By contrast, Google is currently investing significant resources to […]

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August 5, 2020

Voice and Video Calls Now Captioned by Google … for Free

Captioned voice and video calls are now available on Google’s Pixel smartphones starting with the Pixel 4a; the device will caption phone calls made with the native dialer using automatic speech recognition. It will also caption calls, including video calls, using other apps, such as WhatsApp, Viber, Skype… etc.. A Brief History of Telecommunications Relay […]

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May 13, 2020

Video Services Accessibility – Captions

With video conferencing becoming commonplace, as well as vital, RAZ Mobility has examined the accessibility of several services for individuals with hearing loss. In this Newsletter, we put three services under a microscope: Zoom, Google Meet and Skype. Zoom There are two primary flavors of Zoom. The basic free version and the Pro version, which […]

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March 24, 2020

Two New Captioning Features on Android Apps

Google has been laser focused on captioning audio for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.  In February of last year, Google introduced the popular app, Live Transcribe, which captions in-person conversations, and in late 2019 Google introduced Live Caption, which captions all media content on a device.  Fortunately, Google seems committed to continuing […]

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February 27, 2020

New Cell Phone for People with Dementia and Intellectual Disabilities

RAZ Mobility is proud to announce the launch of the new RAZ Memory Cell Phone! The phone is designed to fill an important gap in the market: a device that can meet the needs of individuals with Alzheimer’s, dementia or intellectual disabilities, as well as the needs of their families.    Approximately 5.8 million Americans […]

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December 6, 2019

Which Loudspeakers are Loudest?

For people who are hard of hearing, a smartphone with a loud loudspeaker is very important.  Loudspeakers are frequently used for phone calls, music and videos.  If you are hard of hearing, the louder the better!   So which loudspeakers can generate some serious volume?  Fortunately, GSMArena tests smartphone loudspeaker volume.  Here (no pun intended) […]

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