Noisy Book
By Mieke VanderBorght,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Voice recognition brings sound to your stories -- sometimes.
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Noisy Book
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Based on 1 parent review
Easily hacked
What’s It About?
Allow NOISY BOOK to access your microphone and speech recognition capabilities. Then, tap the screen and start reading. You or your kids can read from a book or make up your own story. As your words are transcribed, some words trigger sound effects (e.g., animal noises, music) or visual effects (e.g., colored confetti. Finish a story by saying "the end." Tap on the quiz option to answer some automatically generated questions about your story. Save the transcribed story to look at it again later and export it as a PDF.
Is It Any Good?
This app offers an idea that may appeal to some families but doesn't work well enough to satify them. New advances in voice recognition get developers really excited, though it's less clear if the technology works well or makes sense for families yet. In some ways, the idea is interesting: enrich your stories with sound and visual effects to make story time an immersive experience and enhance the stories that kids make up on their own. And, when it's working well, that can be what it feels like. Unfortunately the transcription often lags far behind your natural pace of reading so the effects come in too late. And, only some words have associated effects, so you have to choose your stories and words carefully to match what's available (hint: animals, weather, and transportation are good themes). It's nice to save the stories, but is incredibly disappointing that all you can save is a print copy of your transcribed words. There's no way to go back and hear the story again, or re-read that same story to get the sound effects going again. On the other hand, some families may wonder why they need a screen to enhance story time. Isn't the power of the imagination what reading stories is all about? For those families, Noisy Book may feel like yet another way that technology is creeping into everything that we do.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the stories they tell to Noisy Book. Get involved in choosing book from your library or making up your own stories and have fun discovering all the sound effects together.
Make your own sound effects. As you read a story, pause to make animal sounds or transportation noises. Encourage your kids to do it with you.
Noisy Book introduces a screen to an otherwise screen free activity. Talk to your kids about your family's expectations and guidelines regarding screen time.
App Details
- Devices: iPhone , iPad
- Subjects: Language & Reading : speaking, storytelling
- Skills: Tech Skills : using and applying technology
- Pricing structure: Free (The free version allows users to save progress in one story. Unlock unlimited saving with $0.99 in-app purchase.)
- Release date: September 27, 2019
- Category: Books
- Publisher: Lumen Digital
- Version: 1.0
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 13.0 or later
- Last updated: April 27, 2020
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