Is your loss of hearing causing you to chat less often on the phone? As time passes, you can feel isolated due to your loss of hearing. You don’t have to quit using your phone. It is possible to stay in touch with friends and family.
Communication is The key
They say communication is the crucial thing in any relationship, and that is definitely true when it comes to your phone. Can anything be done to improve the situation?
- A hearing exam is a smart idea. Your hearing loss may not be permanent so it’s essential to get a quality diagnosis. Simple things such as earwax buildup or an ear infection will cause temporary hearing loss.
- Do the voices sound too soft? It’s possible the volume needs to be turned up.
- If the volume is already on high, have you tried an accessory such as headphones or a Bluetooth? It’s a relatively affordable way to improve the sound quality on the phone, and that may be all you require.
If you look at the obvious problems and have ruled them out, it’s time to think about more in depth solutions.
There’s an App For That
You will really have a choice between quite a few apps. There are many apps you can download that will work to get you, and your phone back on the same page, some of them are pretty cool.
What the other person says can be turned to text with some of these apps. These apps are far from perfect, but you should be able to work with them. Brands to look up include:
- Live Caption
- Hamilton Mobile Cap Tel
- Note, Listen for Deaf
Most voice to text apps are reasonably priced though not all of them are free.
Phones For The Hard of Hearing
Some phones do the same thing as an app for those interested in a landline option. They can amplify the voice on the other end, making it much easier to hear. High pitched sounds on the other end become clearer because they can equalize the sound.
Another solution is a captioning phone. To take advantage of the captioning service, you have to have a special phone with a screen. Captioning works with a third party operator that either repeats the spoken words so speech recognition software can translate them into text or types them directly into the system. From there the words are displayed on the captioning phone’s screen. The majority of captioning phones need internet service, as well.
a traditional phone system that you can still find which works in a similar way to a captioning service is Text-to-Voice Teletype (TTY). You will need a TTY device that sits near the phone to display the text, though.
Hearing Aids Are The Best Alternative
In the past, every time a hearing aid got near a phone, there would be ear piercing feedback, but new hearing aids don’t usually do that. The latest technology can work with a hearing aid compatible phone to improve the sound and remove interference such as background noise. Even better, they are wireless and will work even when you’re not on the phone.
Compatibility with both landlines and smart-phones is possible with modern, high quality hearing aids. You hold the phone up to the hearing aid and allow the technology to work its magic by streaming the sound from one device to the other.
Most digital hearing aids are also Bluetooth compatible. You simply pair the phone up with the hearing aids exactly the same as you would with wireless headphones or earbuds. The sound goes directly to your hearing aids when it rings.
There isn’t any reason to allow hearing loss spoil a perfectly good relationship. Do what you must to make up with your phone, and start talking again. It’s time to make an appointment with a hearing specialist to check out the newest hearing aid technology.