Right as the conference moderator announces a 10-minute break, Ally sees her cell phone softly glow. It’s that new client calling – great timing. The only problem: Ally is now standing in a lobby packed with hundreds of other conference attendees – along with two espresso machines, and a guy demonstrating some product that apparently requires shouting into a microphone.
She quickly grips her phone, starts speed walking, and looks around. She spots a hallway over to the left – looks pretty empty. Or maybe that’s a stairwell behind the elevators. The corner alcove near the restrooms looks promising, too, though it’d be nice not to start the call by explaining the faint sound of flushing toilets. There’s just 10 minutes to return a call, grab a danish, and find her next session. Yet, somehow, she also has to become a location scout – a task she doesn’t remember seeing in her job description.
The Search for Somewhere Quiet
Ally, 42, an experienced account executive at a fast-growing startup, carries a packed calendar, a daunting sales quota, and a phone that never stops buzzing (with a battery that’s always too low). Long ago, she became perfectly comfortable telling friends, clients, and coworkers about her hearing loss and the hearing aids she wears. They’ve been a “no big deal” part of her life for decades, a standard part of her day like recording expense receipts and remembering which airport lounges have those quiet alcoves (with phone chargers!) that make calls easier.
But even with hearing aids, a noisy background at this conference can turn a simple (but important) phone conversation into a headache. So Ally has picked up a few coping habits over the years. She knows, for example, which conference center stairwells offer a quiet haven – and decent cell reception (hint: look for the ones near exterior walls). She’s taken countless calls from parked cars, empty ballrooms, and corners that look suspiciously like places where people go to avoid their coworkers. She doesn’t want to talk about that call she took in a broom closet.
But all of these little tricks have a way of eating into the schedule. A call comes in, and before she’s even thought about who’s calling or what to say about that schedule delay, she’s already calculating the distance to the nearest quiet spot. That’s a lot of logistical planning for a two-minute conversation.
The Iced Latte, the Call, and the Better Plan
A few days later, Ally is parked in Denver’s Lower Highlands (LOHI) at her neighborhood coffee shop (which seems like her second home some days). Laptop open, Wi-Fi connected – and iced latte halfway finished. She’s ready for her next video conference when that phone buzzes once again. This time it’s her new colleague asking a quick question about a proposal.
Normally, that’s her cue to head outside, and away from the caffeinated crowd. Today, she stays put. She’s recently started using Rogervoice, an app that provides real-time captions during phone calls. FCC-certified captioned calls are free for eligible users. The words appear on her screen as the conversation unfolds, giving her another way to follow along. Her hearing aids are still doing their job. But hearing aids amplify volume, not clarity, and captions close the gap.
As she listens intently to her colleague, the hissing espresso machine does her no favors. Closer to her couch, someone else orders a cappuccino with seven high-maintenance modifications. No problem. She glances at the screen, confirms a detail or two, knowing the transcript will be saved if she needs the proposal numbers later, and answers the question without missing a beat. She finishes off her iced latte with gusto and pivots to her video conference. No field expedition to the parking lot required.
Lunch, With a Side of Captions
The next afternoon, Ally meets a prospective client for lunch at a busy spot downtown. Even at a quiet table, the conversation can be challenging. The prospect likes to speak quickly – and drops a lot of numbers mid-sentence. Then there’s the server reciting the specials at a speed usually reserved for auctioneers. Ally sets her phone on the table, the way everyone does, and turns on Rogervoice’s in-person captioning. As her prospect walks through a budget and proposed timeline, the conversation appears on her screen as it happens. She glances down to catch a number, looks back up, and keeps the conversation moving. Her client notices only that Ally has clearly done her homework. In-person captioning is free, and it runs on-device, so the conversation never leaves her phone.
The Rest of Life Doesn’t Make Reservations
That Saturday, Ally is at a garden center, trying to decide whether her patio needs another plant. Her phone buzzes: It’s her sister.
“Mom says she’s bringing dessert tonight,” she warns. Ally laughs. Their mother had already volunteered to bring an appetizer, two salads, and enough dinner rolls to feed the neighborhood. A cart loaded with grass seed backs up with its delightfully loud beeping. Someone nearby is packing bags of mulch into a hand truck. Ally checks the captions as her sister explains the latest additions to the dinner menu.
“Mom knows we’re doing dinner, not opening a restaurant, right?” Ally says, and they both laugh. After she ends the call, she puts the phone back into her pocket and returns to the important business of the day: deciding whether she can keep a third rosemary plant alive.
It was just a two-minute call, and nobody had to find a quiet room, move to a parked car, or get trapped in the “Sorry – can you repeat that?” loop. That’s the beauty of having another way to follow a conversation.
Hearing aids got her this far. Rogervoice keeps her moving. It works alongside the hearing aids Ally already uses, helping her handle calls in the places where her life happens. Rogervoice pairs with hearing aids, cochlear implants, and Bluetooth headsets. She’s got clients to meet, family plans to make, and a patio that apparently needs more greenery. The broom closet can go back to storing brooms. No human listener, ever. Every conversation, captioned. Free to download on iPhone and Android.
About Rogervoice
Rogervoice is the captioning app for calls and in-person conversations. Founded in 2014 by Olivier Jeannel, deaf since age two, it has captioned over 12 million calls in 100+ languages and is the #1-rated captioned calling app.* Captioned calls are FCC-certified and free for eligible users. In-person captioning is free.
*Highest average rating among FCC-certified captioned calling apps on the App Store and Google Play, US, October 2026.
