Another previously available feature, Speak Auto-Text speaks any autocorrected and autocapitalized text when it's switched on. This is helpful not only to people who have visual impairments, but also to those who don't pay strict enough attention to a device's desire to substitute words when it detects alleged mistakes.

Another new feature with iOS 5--at least if you have an iPhone 4 or 4S--Hearing Aid Mode makes iOS devices more compatible with hearing aids.

If you can't read your iPhone's screen, it's very difficult to use caller ID on a muted phone. The new Custom Vibration feature--which, like Hearing Aid Mode, is only available on the iPhone 4 and 4S--allows you to assign a unique vibration pattern to a contact. This way, when your iPhone vibrates in a pattern similar to the opening bars of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (termed the Symphony pattern), you know it's Ludwig calling.