Introduction
With distractions all around us, it can be easy to overlook some of the more critical sounds in the real world that we need to hear. To make sure you stay alert, Apple is looking to have your back with the Sound Recognition feature for iPhone. The Sound Recognition feature lets you choose specific, common sounds that you want to be notified whenever your iPhone picks them up, and plays a specific tone, vibrates and sends you an on-screen notification whenever your device hears those sounds. Common sounds you can choose to have your iPhone listen for include fire and smoke alarms, cats and dogs, car horns, a baby crying, glass breaking and more.
Some of the images associated with the steps are included inline below. All images associated with these steps can be seen in the embedded YouTube video. Also, please note that you’re not able to leave a comment directly on this article. If you have a question or feedback, please leave it on the YouTube video.
How to Recognize Sounds Using iPhone
- Launch the “Settings” app on your iPhone, and then tap “Accessibility” in the menu on this screen.
- Scroll down to the Hearing section, and then tap “Sound Recognition” in this section.
- Tap to toggle “Sound Recognition” on. You’ll see a message that sound recognition information is being downloaded.
- Tap “Sounds” when that option appears after the sound recognition information is downloaded. You’ll see a list of various sounds you can turn on sound recognition for, such as alarms, animals, household items, people and more.
- Tap the item you want to turn on sound recognition for. In this example, I’ll choose “Fire.” The screen for that sound is displayed.
- Tap toggle on sound recognition for that sound. You may see a note that the Hey Siri feature isn’t available while you’re using sound recognition.
Tap “Turn On Sound Recognition” to move forward with using the sound recognition feature. Another message appears asking if you want Sound Recognition to send you notifications.
Tap “Allow.” You’ll land on an information screen for that specific sound type.
- Tap “Alert Tones” to choose a specific alert tone you want to have played to alert you whenever this sound is detected. The Alert Tones screen is shown.
- Tap to choose the specific alert tone you want to have played whenever this sound is detected. You’ll hear a preview of that sound after you select it.
- Repeat this process for any other sounds you want to turn on recognition for. Going forward, any time your iPhone detects any sounds you have sound recognition turned on for, it will play the specified sound you chose, vibrate, and display an on-screen notification.
