Amazon is introducing three new Alexa features to the Echo Show in a bid to make its smart displays even more accessible.
Gestures
The first of these new features is support for gestures. Anyone using an Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen) or Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen) can now dismiss timers simply by raising your hand with your palm facing the camera. If enabled, you no longer need to touch the Echo Show display or speak in order to dismiss a timer.
Amazon points out gestures are especially useful if you are using a timer while cooking and have dirty hands and music playing.
Tap to Alexa Text-to-Speech
The second new feature is Tap to Alexa introducing support for text-to-speech to type out phrases that are then spoken allowed to you. Tap to Alexa has been a feature of the Echo Show since 2018, allowing you to interact with Alexa using touch instead of voice through a series of dashboard commands. This update expands the feature and allows you to type out and save common phrases as shortcut tiles for easy access and playback in the future.
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Consolidated Captions
Finally, there's a new Consolidated Captions option to help Echo Show owners who are deaf, hard of hearing, or simply use their smart display in a noisy environment. Consolidated Captoins allows you to enable call captioning, closed captioning, and Alexa captioning all at once and across all of your supported Echo Show devices.
Once this feature is turned on, captions will appear on the Echo Show display when video plays, when Alexa says something, and real-time captions will pop-up during Alexa calls.
Both Tap to Alexa text-to-speech and Consolidated Captions can be enabled by swiping down from the top of the Echo Show display, selecting "Settings" and then "Accessibility." Within that menu you'll find options for "Captions" and "Tap to Alexa." For gestures, select "Device Options" in the Settings menu and then select "Gestures."