A new smartwatch app warns users who are deaf or hard of hearing about nearby sounds, such as microwave beeps or car horns.

“The main motivation came from my own experience, and conversations that my colleagues and I have had with deaf and hard of hearing people over several years,” says Dhruv Jain, who presented the system, called SoundWatch, at the virtual ASSETS conference on October 28.

Jain, who is hard of hearing, uses SoundWatch at home to avoid sleeping through a smoke alarm. “On a nature walk, it’ll tell me that there’s birds chirping (吱喳叫), or there might be a waterfall nearby,” he says. “Those sounds make me feel more present and connected to the world.”

Sound awareness apps for smartphones exist. But Jain prefers the immediate sound notifications (提示) on his wrist, rather than in his pocket — and surveys of people who are deaf or hard of hearing show he’s not alone.

The SoundWatch app pairs an Android smartwatch and phone. The watch records surrounding noises and sends that data to the phone for processing. When the phone detects a sound of interest, the smartwatch vibrates and displays a notification.   

Jain, a computer scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues designed the app to identify 20 noises. In experiments, SoundWatch correctly identified those 20 sounds 81.2 percent of the time. When set to listen only for urgent noises — a fire alarm, door knock or alarm clock — the app was 97.6 percent accurate. Eight deaf and hard of hearing people who used SoundWatch around a university campus gave the app broadly favorable reviews, but noted that the app misclassified some sounds in noisy outdoor settings.

Jain and colleagues are now working on a version of SoundWatch that users can train to recognize new sounds, such as their own house alarm, using just a few recordings.

Today almost everyone knows computers and the Internet. If I ask you “What is the most important in your life?” Maybe you will say “Computers and the Internet.”

The first computer was made in 1946. It was very big but it worked slowly. Today computers are getting smaller and smaller. But they work faster and faster. What can computers do? A writer has said, “People can’t live without computers today.”

The Internet came a little later than computers. It is about twenty-five years later than computers. But now it can be found almost everywhere. We can use it to read books, write letters, do shopping, play games or make friends.

Many students like the Internet very much. They often go into the Internet as soon as they are free. They make friends on the Internet and maybe they have never seen these friends. They don’t know their real names, ages, and even sex. They are so interested in making the “unreal friends” that they can’t put their heart into study. Many of them can’t catch up with others on many subjects because of that.

We can use computers and the Internet to learn more about the world. But at the same time, we should remember that not all the things can be done by computers and the Internet.

Just last year, the number of websites worldwide reached 1.8 billion. We are constantly surrounded by information and have countless sources of information available at our fingertips. 【小题1】 Being able to evaluate the credibility of information is an important skill used in school, work, and day-to-day life. The following tips will help you tell a good source from inaccurate ones.

Check the domain name.

Look at the three letters at the end of the site’s domain name, such as “edu” (educational), “gov” (government), “org” (nonprofit), and “com” (commercial). Generally, .edu and. gov websites are credible, but beware of sites that use these suffixes in an attempt to mislead. 【小题2】 Commercial websites, such as those of reputable news organizations, can also be good sources, but do some investigation to look for signs of reliability.

Check the Date.

【小题3】 In some subject areas, such as the sciences, having current sources is essential; but in other fields, like the humanities, including older material is critical. If you need the most up-to-date information available, it’s probably best to keep clear old websites. One way to check: Look for a “last updated” date on the page or site.

Research the author.

A source is more credible if written by someone with achievements. If no author is named, the source should not be considered highly credible. However, if the author is presenting original work, evaluate the value of the ideas. 【小题4】 The history of science tells us that the big advances in sciences tend to come from outsiders, not the establishment.

【小题5】

If a site is poorly designed and amateurish, chances are it was created by amateurs. Odd look generally equals odd and rarely truthful news. Sloppy writing is another bad sign. Keep clear. But be careful: Just because a website is professionally designed doesn’t mean it’s reliable.