Remember Bruno Fosi's iPhone case for the blind? He's not alone in trying to develop iPhone tools for the different-abled and those that interact with them: There's iVisit's SeeScan, an app that uses the camera to identify objects it's pointed at and speaks their names aloud, and Izatt International's Bumps, which helps the sight-enabled learn Braille.

Izatt has another flashcard-style app called Fingerspell, which is basically the same as Bumps but helps users learn sign language.

Lastly, the soundAMP app is designed to turn your iPhone into a hearing aid. Using the built-in mic (or an external, up to you), it simply turns the phone into a large speaker, amplifying everything it picks up. I'm not crazy about the interface, pictured up top--too many bezels, bevels, shadows and reflections for me--but the intent is admirable.