John,
Thanks for all that great info!!!

I just found a reported work-around for the need to have iPhone charging to use "Hey Siri" .  Here is the work around and a video explaining it.

"The procedure is rather simple, and takes advantage of the way Siri works. Before trying it, iOS device users should have “Hey Siri” feature enabled and make sure the screen auto-lock is set to more than one minute.

Once that’s done, you’ll have to simply invoke Siri (manually or while plugged in), without saying any command. At that point, Siri will timeout, showing you various suggestions for questions, but it’ll stay on. From that moment on, you can keep repeating “Hey Siri,” and Apple’s voice assistant will keep responding to your queries as if it were plugged in and charging.

Obviously, the downside to this trick is that battery might drain faster"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdRGOZhOURY

Sincerely,

Amy Roman, MS, CCC-SLP
Augmentative Communication Specialist

AmyandpALS.Com
Pinterest.com/AmyandPALS

Forbes Norris ALS Research and Treatment Center
2324 Sacramento Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
Cell (415)518-0592
Fax (415)600-3778

--------------------------------------------
On Mon, 12/29/14, Costello, John (Otolaryngology) <xxxxxx@childrens.harvard.edu> wrote:

 Subject: Re: Cell phone for PALS
 To: "xxxxxx@alsa.simplelists.com" <xxxxxx@alsa.simplelists.com>
 Date: Monday, December 29, 2014, 12:22 PM

 #yiv4987498814 #yiv4987498814 --

  _filtered #yiv4987498814 {}
  _filtered #yiv4987498814 {}
  _filtered #yiv4987498814 {font-family:Tahoma;panose-1:2 11
 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
 #yiv4987498814
 #yiv4987498814 p.yiv4987498814MsoNormal, #yiv4987498814
 li.yiv4987498814MsoNormal, #yiv4987498814
 div.yiv4987498814MsoNormal
 	{margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;font-size:12.0pt;}
 #yiv4987498814 .yiv4987498814MsoChpDefault
 	{font-size:10.0pt;}
  _filtered #yiv4987498814 {margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in
 1.25in;}
 #yiv4987498814 div.yiv4987498814WordSection1
 	{}
 #yiv4987498814

 Hi, of the many people with
 ALS I currently follow,  I have five people using Hey
 Siri on iPhone 4s or 5 with general success to initiate
 phone calls, send texts, enter information in their
  calendar and launch apps.

 The phone must be plugged
 in/charging.      Have had difficulty and/or failure if
 using a portable charging station or car charger and is most
 consistent if plugged into the wall or the computer.
  

 I say "Hey Siri' and
 then tell Siri the number to call

 2.  Siri calls the number and
 the phone rings.

 3.  When the person on the
 other line answers, they can not hear me talk UNLESS I put
 the iPhone into SPEAKER phone mode.

 4.  When the call is active,
 Hey Siri no longer works/does not let you summon Siri.  
  Therefore, one can not use voice to activate the SPEAKER
 phone option. 

 5.  If you have not made your
 call yet, Hey Siri does not recognize a command to
 'activate speaker phone' (thought I could turn it on
 and then make the call…but did not work for me)

 6.  Also, Hey Siri does not
 become active again until the person you called hangs up and
 ends the call.    The user of 'Hey Siri' can not
 end the call. 

  

 To avoid the issue of not
 being able to hear the person you call, you want to put the
 phone into permanent speaker mode.     It then will allow
 the user to hear the communication partner.   It still does
 not allow you to use Siri
  while the call is active, still does not allow you to end
 the call and Hey Siri will only become active again when the
 person on the other line hangs up.

   

 1. Go into the
 iPhone Settings

 2. Go
 to General

 3. Go
 to Accessibility

 4. Go to "Call Audio
 Routing" (In
 the Interaction section)

 5. Select
 "Speaker"

  

 Some
 glitches I've found to date:
 -Hey Siri can launch an app but can
 not CLOSE the app (Siri even tells you "As much
 as I'd like to, I can't close an
 app.").
 -I (and several
 people I support)  have had inconsistency with Siri.
   It has worked beautifully and suddenly is finicky.  
  One example is that for no apparent reason, Siri is
 confused by saying 'Hey Siri'
  and instead requires one to blurt out the request at the
 same time "Hey Siri make a phone call".    Other
 times, one says "Hey Siri'the phone beeps to let
 you know it is waiting to hear your request and then will
 follow through with your request.  
 -Sometimes the success with Siri
 is incumbent upon also seeing the display.    If one can
 not see it, one may miss a written cue from Siri (that was
 not spoken).
 -there have been two instances of
 Siri responding: I'M sorry, I can't help
 you right now.  Please try later".     In both
 instances the fix was powering down the phone and then
 powering back up.       It is
  important to let people know this as some may be lulled
 into a false sense of security for having a fool proof way
 of calling for help. 
 -If you are telling Siri to make a
 call and dictate the phone number and one of the numbers
 is 2, siri may replace it with the word  'to' and
 the call fails.    One then has to listen to the phone try
 to make
  a call and have it fail.     For example, the last four
 digits of my office number are 2220.     Siri has gotten
 it right 3 out of 15 times.  All of the other times Siri
 translated it as 2 to 20.      I try many different
 rates and intonations but usually
  get failure.  
 - if reminders pop up on the phone
 screen, Hey Siri can not be used to close them…so if one
 is relying on the visual, it may be blocked by the pop up.
  

   

 Additional information:
  Hey Siri will recognize SOME speech synthesizers.    For
 example, if using an Acapella voice, Hey Siri will NOT
 recognize (at least for me) the Ryan voice, but recognizes
  the 'Saul' voice and will even make a phone call
 (but still puts the word 'to' in if there are
 consecutive #2s in the number).   

  Hope this helps.   

  John

 John M. Costello
 Director, Augmentative Communication
 Program
 Boston Children's
 Hospital
 781.216.2220

 781 216 2252 fax
 www.childrenshospital.org/acp
 FACEBOOK:
 www.facebook.org/acpchboston

 From: Erin Singleton
 <xxxxxx@communitymedical.org>

 Reply-To: "xxxxxx@alsa.simplelists.com"
 <xxxxxx@alsa.simplelists.com>

 Date: Monday,
 December 29, 2014 2:25 PM

 To: "xxxxxx@alsa.simplelists.com"
 <xxxxxx@alsa.simplelists.com>

 Subject: Cell phone
 for PALS

 #yiv4987498814
 #yiv4987498814 --

  _filtered #yiv4987498814 {panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
  _filtered #yiv4987498814 {font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15
 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
 #yiv4987498814
 #yiv4987498814 p.yiv4987498814MsoNormal, #yiv4987498814
 li.yiv4987498814MsoNormal, #yiv4987498814
 div.yiv4987498814MsoNormal
 	{margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;font-size:11.0pt;}
 #yiv4987498814 a:link, #yiv4987498814
 span.yiv4987498814MsoHyperlink
 	{color:blue;text-decoration:underline;}
 #yiv4987498814 a:visited, #yiv4987498814
 span.yiv4987498814MsoHyperlinkFollowed
 	{color:purple;text-decoration:underline;}
 #yiv4987498814 span.yiv4987498814EmailStyle17
 	{color:windowtext;}
 #yiv4987498814 .yiv4987498814MsoChpDefault
 	{}
  _filtered #yiv4987498814 {margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
 #yiv4987498814 div.yiv4987498814WordSection1
 	{}
 #yiv4987498814

 It’s been a while since
 I’ve asked or seen this conversation circulating. I have a
 fairly
 non dysarthric patient with mild onset of
 respiratory  compromise which affects volume some but
 generally speaking his voice and speech are his strengths.
 Patient has no residual use of hands or legs.

   
 He has asked me the best
 phone or method to use for phone service. He can no longer
 push the home button to wake his iphone 5s and cannot scroll
 as hand function is now completely absent.

   
 Suggestions? Patient is
 willing to purchase new phone or equipment. He wants to be
 able to make a phone call, dictate in apps, write
 letters/notes, get on social networking, etc.
   
 Any suggestions welcome.
 Thanks!
   
 Erin
 Singleton M.A., CCC-SLP

 Neuroscience Outpatient Rehabilitation
 Center

 2335 East Kashian Lane, Suite 301

 Fresno, California 93701

 Office: (559) 459-6056

 Fax: (559) 459-2957

 Email:
 xxxxxx@communitymedical.org

   
   

 -------------------------------------------------------

 WARNING/CONFIDENTIAL:

 -------------------------------------------------------

 This email, including attachments, may contain information
 that is privileged, confidential, and/or exempt from
 disclosure under applicable law (including, but not limited
 to, protected health information). It is not intended for
 transmission to, or receipt
  by, any unauthorized persons. If the reader of this message
 is not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that
 any dissemination, distribution or copying of this
 communication is strictly prohibited. If you believe this
 email was sent to you in error,
  do not read it. Reply to the sender informing them of the
 error and then destroy all copies and attachments of the
 message from your system. Thank you.