iPhone Apps for the Clinic: Part 2

I hope everybody is keeping warm this winter. I can tell you it certainly has been unusually colder than normal this year in central Florida. Take that Mr. Gore! I'm going to once again address one of the more popular posts on this blog, iPhone apps. As of January 27, 2010 Apple reports there being more than 140,000 available apps at the iTunes App Store with more than 3 billion apps downloaded as of the same date. That's BILLION with "B". Apple only reports selling 33 million iPhones as of the 4th quarter of 2009. So that means that each iPhone user has downloaded roughly 90 apps, give or take. Some people have probably downloaded a heck of a lot more than that due to what is being referred to app addiction, and the process has been termed "apping". So bearing all this mania in mind we can safely say this device is going to be around for a while longer. It certainly bears consideration for use in the rehab clinic as well as when you are considering recommendations for your clients. It also bears mentioning that many of these apps will work on the iTouch. So if you’re not interested in getting a new cell phone and potentially more expensive cell phone bills consider purchasing the iTouch to get the device without the phone.

MedAlert

$ 0.99

For those of you seeing patients for medication management or adults with ADHD this is one app you can recommend. You can add multiple users with complex dosing schedules. The app will schedule alerts and then notify via device alarms as to the person, the medication and the dose.

 

 

soundAMP

Prive Varies by Features

soundAMP is a series of apps by Gingerlabs that comes in three different versions which are designed to turn the iPhone into a “quality hearing device”. The app uses the phone’s microphone to listen to the environment and process the sound, cleaning it up for better comprehension by the user. One might think that if you can afford an iPhone, why don’t you just buy a hearing aid. But in actuality, many folks are in the in-between stage of actually needing HA’s full time vs. use in special circumstances. soundAMP 2.0 ($4.99) and soundAMP R ($6.99) include a user-tunable dynamic equalizer to achieve optimal sound quality. Verson 2.0 records the last 30 seconds while version R recording is only limited by the empty space on your device. soundAMP Lite has no recording feature or equilizer, but is only $0.99. Not bad for a pair of Magic Ears. Consider this for children and adults with sensory processing disorders that affect listening.

Locabulary

Free

Okay, I showed this one to my SLP and she thought it was cool too. This app was designed to “combine location and vocabulary to produce efficient communication.” It is a compact and inexpensive alternative to augmentative communication devices that is customized to work in situations like McDonald’s and Starbucks. The interface allows sentence construction as wells as single word or short phrase choices. Quickly snap off a “Dude”, “Hello” or “Sweet” as well as order that wicked Mocha Frappachino. Did I mention that this FREE! ACC’s that do stuff like this run in the thousands of dollars! Also worth checking out is iConverse ($9.99) and the very powerful Proloquo2Go ($189.99) which is still a bargain.

Accessibilty

If we’re going to assume persons with disabilities will be using this device, then we need to consider accessibility. Not  everybody is going to be able to interact with this doodad using their fingertip. Therefore, that brings us to the trusty stylus. A few choices are available now running in price from $4.99 for a fingertip stylus to $14.99 for a pen-like stylus with a soft tip that comes with a travel clip to attach it to the device.

New for the iPhone 3GS is the VoiceOver screen reader that has been utilized on the Mac for while now. Users can hear a description of whatever item is under their finger. Very cool. It speaks 21 languages and will also incorporate features like entering text and specific application interaction. I really have to say I’m disappointed that Apple didn’t include this feature for older models in an OS upgrade. That’s “Operating System” for you guys out there rolling it old school style. Check out the Apple Accessibility page for more information on features for hearing and physical and motor skill impairments as well.

Islet – Diabetes Assistant

$2.99

Help clients take charge of their diabetes by letting them enter blood glucose, insulin injection, carb intake and exercise data. Additionally, you can graph your data which is great for showing to the doc during office visits so he can spot trends. You can also customize insulin types. In between office visits? Email your data to your doctor. The app’s author, a Princeton undergrad, recently received a $100,000 grant from the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT) to build a more in-depth online portal for the app. Keep an eye on this kid.

So that’s it for this time folks. Please comment on any of these apps if you have experience with them. Also, please feel free to suggest any personal favorites you might already be using that I might have missed. With over 140,000 apps in the store I’m bound to miss a few. One thing Apple has yet to do is devise a really good way of sorting through the stinky apps. Oh yeah, there’s a lot ‘em.