A small ambient-sound indicator for deaf and hard-of-hearing users
aero is a desktop-first accessibility app that helps users notice when the surrounding sound level suddenly rises while they are reading, writing, or focused on another app.
It is not a subtitle app and it does not compete with cloud speech recognition. Its first job is simpler:
- notice that something changed around you
- show that change with a small visual indicator
- stay out of the way during normal work
- Desktop-first overlay — A small always-on-top indicator that stays near the bottom-right corner.
- Ambient change detection — React to sudden changes relative to the recent baseline, not just absolute volume.
- Calm-to-urgent state — Green → yellow → red, then a spiky speech-bubble shape for stronger events.
- Optional rough classification — Human voice-like vs object-like, shown with a tiny pixel-art icon.
- No cloud dependency — Local-first design. Audio is not meant to be stored or uploaded.
- Primary target: Windows
- App shell: Tauri
- Future: Android as a separate implementation if overlay behavior is needed there
aero is intended for moments like:
- someone speaks from outside your field of view
- the room suddenly gets louder
- something unusual happens nearby while you are focused on a screen
The app should remain small, readable, and non-intrusive until something changes.
# Frontend
cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev
# Tauri desktop shell
npm run tauri:devSee README.ja.md, CLAUDE.md, and docs/spec.md for project details.
MIT