For Joyce Edmiston, 55, who admits she can’t hear her oven timer beeping when she removes her hearing aids, even if she’s in the kitchen, says lack of awareness of these audio alerts and other sounds can be a real problem. OtoSense, a sound recognition software company, has developed the first mobile app that identifies and distinguishes the source of incoming audio alerts, including alarms, sirens, timers, bells and other sounds, turning smartphones and tablets into assistive alerting devices for the deaf and hard of hearing. Joyce, who runs http://xpressivehandz.blogspot.com is seen herewith an award. For people like Joyce and Travis Dougherty, 33, who is deaf, OtoSense offers an adaptable, affordable and useful means of being notified of important sounds in their environment. Wherever you go, it seems, people, young and old, are using smartphones and tablets. The real value of these devices, however, comes from the mobile applications. Smartphones have quite literally become the new form of an assistive device – the all-in-one system that is made all that more powerful with the mobile applications available to download. Today, there are apps that let you watch (even in closed captions), text, video chat, bank, shop, read, listen, take photos [...]