Written by Updated on Feb. 2, 2022
The Inspiration
When my Nonna (grandmother) was hospitalized during full COVID lockdown, pretty much all communication with her was cut off. No visitors were allowed at all. Due to her dementia and hearing loss, she was unable to use her cell phone and also had trouble using the hospital phone. Because of her condition, she was not supposed to walk on her own. Unfortunately, she tried to anyway when she needed to use the bathroom and no one answered her call button. She fell, broke her foot, and damaged the nerves that control it. She has never been able to walk again.
If Nonna had been able to communicate with us, she probably would have called my father to tell him that no one was answering her call button, and he would have convinced to her to wait for the nurse. This got me thinking that there has to be an easier way for the elderly to communicate. I decided to make a phone so simple that even grandparents with dementia and hearing loss could use it. It needed to have an interface so simple that anyone could use it, and speakers loud enough to compensate for severe hearing loss. I had no idea such a simple concept could present so many challenges. After a lot of trial and error, I finally came up with a design that worked. After much experimentation, I came up with the SpeakEasy phone. The SpeakEasy box has a smartphone inside of it, amplified speakers, and a single button on the outside that can be programmed to dial a specific phone number (in our case, my father’s mobile phone). Also, anyone can text “call me now” to the SpeakEasy’s mobile number, and it will automatically call the sender of the text message. This means that anyone can instantly “drop in” on loved ones without requiring them to answer the phone.
After I created the device, my grandparents were in and out of the hospital many times due to their declining health. Each time, my family was able to use the SpeakEasy device to stay connected with them. Nonna was recently hospitalized after having contracted COVID. No visitors were allowed, and the SpeakEasy was the family’s only connection to Nonna. On January 25th, my father spoke to her through my device. Realizing that Nonna was more coherent than prior days, he contacted my family members for a group call. Everyone was given the opportunity to talk to Nonna and tell her how much they loved her. Sadly, Nonna passed away the next day, in her sleep. The SpeakEasy gave my family the gift of being able to speak with Nonna and share their love for her during her final hours. My Nonna was very loving, and always showered me with gifts and affection, so I am grateful to have given back to her in this way.
Many of the nurses and doctors who saw the SpeakEasy device in action commented on what a great idea it is. A few of them suggested that I should patent it and start a company. Instead I decided to donate the design to general public, since I think that would be the fastest way that others could benefit from my work. If you would like to make your own SpeakEasy device, read on…
Build Your Own SpeakEasy
Parts You Will Need
- An Android Phone. Any inexpensive Android phone should do, but I used the ZTE Blade A5. If you go with a different one, make sure it’s no larger in any dimension than the A5. Otherwise, it won’t fit into the project box.
- ELENKER USB Powered Mini Speakers. You can try another brand if you’d like, but these work well and fit into the project box.
- Tsumbay 3.5mm Male to Male Aux Cable with Microphone and in-line Control.
- Pasow 3.5mm Female to Female Adapter Cable.
- SUNGUY Right Angle Micro USB Cable. I needed this particular version of the micro USB cable because it doesn’t extend the length of the phone by too much, allowing it all to still fit in the project box. If you go with a smaller phone (or a larger project box), you can use any micro USB cable.
- Poyiccot Panel Mount USB C Extension Cable. This is used to bring USB power into the box.
- Miady 15000mAh Portable USB Power Bank. You can use any other USB battery, but it needs to fit in the box and have two output ports (one for the speaker, and one for the phone).
To make things easy, I’ve created a SpeakEasy Amazon Shopping List with all of the above items.
Software Setup
Once you have the items, the next step is to set up some custom software on the Android phone. Download the Automate app from the Google Play Store. This app is what allowed me to implement the key features of the SpeakEasy (one button dial and text to call). It allows you to program the phone to automatically perform certain tasks in response to specific events. To simply the programming, the app allows you to create flow charts by dropping icons on a canvas and connecting them together in various ways. It’s really a neat application. To learn more, see the documentation. Our first task will be to program the phone to dial a preset number when the media button on the aux cable is pressed. In order to do that, we need to create a new “flow”. Flows are instructions you give the phone to watch for events and do things when they happen . Here is how to set up the Push To Call flow:
- Create a new flow and label it “Push To Call”. A Flow Beginning block will be created for you automatically.
- Add a Media Button building block and connect the GO connector of the Flow Beginning block to the IN connector of the Media Button.
- In the Media Button, select all the types of button presses, so that no matter how the button is pushed/held, this block will be triggered.
- Add a Call Number building block after the Media Button and connect the OK connector of the Media Button to the IN connector of the Call Number block. Set the phone number to number you want the SpeakEasy to call when the button is pressed. You can leave the other fields blank.
- Connect the OK connector of the Call Number block to the IN connector of the Media Button.
Your flow should look like this:
What this does is:
- Wait for the media button to be pressed.
- Once pressed, dial the specified number.
- When the call is completed, go back to Step 1.
Next we will create the Text to Call flow.
What this does is:
- Wait for an SMS to be received.
- Log incoming phone number the text came from. This can be used for debugging purposes.
- If the body of the text is “call me now” or “Call me now” and the sender’s phone number is from an authorized list, call that phone number. This logic is accomplished in the “fx” block. Since the screenshot does not show the full text in that block, here is an example:
(incomingTextPhoneNumber = “+17545551212” || incomingTextPhoneNumber = “+19545551212”) && (incomingTextMessage = “call me now” || incomingTextMessage = “Call me now”)
- When the call is completed, go back to Step 1.
These two flows are all that you need for the software setup. Once you have completed them you are ready to test.
Here are the steps to test it:
- Start both of the flows.
- To test the first flow, plug in the headphones and press the media button. The phone should dial the number you specified in the last step of the Push To Call Flow.
- To test the second flow, text “call me now” the SpeakEasy phone’s number. You must do this from an authorized number. Recall that the authorized phone numbers are specified in the “fx” block of the Text to Call Flow.
- Wait for the phone to dial out to the number you texted from.
Hardware Setup
The first task is to assemble the SpeakEasy outside of the project box to make sure everything works as expected. To do this, follow the following steps:
- Plug the speakers into the USB power bank.
- Plug the phone into the USB power bank using the right-angle USB cable.
- Connect the speaker audio cable to the female-to-female adapter cable.
- Connect the other end of the female-to-female adapter to the audio cable with microphone and media button (the microphone cable).
- Plug the other end of the microphone cable into the phone’s audio jack.
- Plug the USB C extension cable into the battery input.
- Plug one end of a regular USB C cable into the USB extension cable and the other end into a USB charger.
- Test the device according to the instructions at the end of the Software Setup section.
 Speakers |  Audio Cable with Microphone and Media Button |
 Right-Angle USB Power Cable |  USB Power Bank |
Female to Female Adapter Cable
 USB-C Extension Cable |  USB-C Cable |
 USB Charger |
If you have built a SpeakEasy using these instructions, please post any ideas for improving the design or this post. Thank you.