For the first time I was able to call my 23-year-old son

Last August — for the first time in my life — I had the opportunity to do something that people do every day. I called my son.

“Dad, do you realize this is the first time we’ve talked on the phone?” said my 23-year-old son Harry who lives in Hong Kong. Since birth, I’ve been profoundly deaf. In my daily life, I rely on captions and lip-reading for communication. Until recently, I haven’t been able to simply pick up the phone to chat with someone because I didn’t have a way to caption what they were saying. But Live Caption on the Google Pixel changed all of this.

Thanks to this feature, when Harry spoke his words were instantly converted to text. I was able to simultaneously read what Harry was saying and respond to him in a way that was natural and fluid.  

Since the first call with my son, I’ve called my bank manager, handyman, colleagues, family and friends. I even used Live Caption on a recent call with my doctor who noted that “it worked extremely well.” And last week, my partner asked me to make a phone call for her — never in my life could I have imagined that scenario.

Live Caption continues to delight me every day, and it’s clear how it can have a huge impact on the millions of people around the world who live with hearing loss every day. These days, I can’t wait to pick up the phone again.

Live Caption for calls is currently available in English only on Pixel 2 or newer phones. The accuracy of the captions can vary depending on the quality and clarity of the audio source. For more information check out our help center page.