Your Android phone can tell if your dog’s barking. Here’s how

Ever wondered if you could get notified about a doorbell ringing or your puppy barking on your phone? Well, Android did just that, and way more. Originally designed for people who are hard of hearing, the new feature lets users know about a variety of external noises as push notifications.

Sound Notifications in Android

Sound Notifications, as the feature is called, can be set up to either give out a push notification, vibration, or a flash from your phone’s camera.There is a list of ten stimuli or sounds to which you can get notified through this feature.

Dog barking, Doorbell ringing, Knocking, appliance beeping, shouts, sirens, running water, landline phone ringing, and most importantly smoke and fire alarms are the common responses to which Sound notifications is tuned into.

The feature is already available for Google Pixel phones and can be enabled through the phone’s accessibility settings. If you are not a Pixel user, the feature can also be enabled through Android’s Live Transcribe App as well. Although it was built for people with hearing disability, the app can be made to notify surrounding activity while you are on your headphones.

A similar experimental feature was previously available on pixel buds where the volume lowers in response to external stimulus as listed above. Google says the whole experience is offline, so the feature is always available regardless of your phone’s Wi-Fi connectivity. Through these features, Google is expected to become more involved in our experiences, rather than suggesting user-searched information.

Its time to Move Out

Understanding your surrounding noise in real-time and getting you notified to be present with your surroundings is a welcome addition in an otherwise addicted online world. Let’s hope they release better features to help us be present in our surroundings through future updates.