Is your loss of hearing causing you to chat less often on the phone? Over time, you may feel isolated due to your loss of hearing. Don’t just quit using your phone. It is possible to keep in touch with friends and loved ones.
It’s All About Communication
They say communication is the indispensable thing with any relationship, and that is indeed true when it comes to your phone. Can anything be done to improve the situation?
- Are the voices tough to hear? Check the phone to make certain that the volume is turned all the way up.
- Have you had an ear exam? Your hearing loss may not be permanent so it’s important to get a quality diagnosis. It may possibly be something as straightforward as too much earwax or an ear infection.
- If the volume is already cranked up, have you tried out an accessory such as headphones or a Bluetooth? Maybe that’s all you need to make your phone sound better and it doesn’t cost that much.
If you look at the obvious problems and have ruled them out, it’s time to consider more in depth solutions.
You Can Find an App For That
As a matter of fact, there’s more than one app. 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.
Some apps turn what the other person says to text you can read. These apps are far from perfect, but you should be able to work with them. Brands to look up include:
- Note, Listen for Deaf
- Hamilton Mobile Cap Tel
- Live Caption
Not all voice to text apps are free, but most are reasonably priced.
You Can Get a Phone For That
You can also buy a landline phone has similar functions as an app. They can amplify the sound on the other end, making it much easier to hear. An equalizer makes the high pitched sounds that usually drop of clearer.
A captioning phone is another solution. You have to have a special phone that has a screen if you want to use the captioning service. 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 right into the system. From there the words are displayed on the captioning phone’s screen. The majority of captioning phones need to have internet service, as well.
Text-to-Voice Teletype (TTY) is a traditional phone system that is still available and works in a similar way to the captioning phone. A separate device to show the text is needed, however.
Hearing Aids Are The Best Choice
Newer hearing aids won’t feedback every time they come close to a phone like the old ones did. You can get hearing aid compatible phones which eliminate background noise and other interference to enhance sound quality. Current hearing aid technology is compatible with these phones. The best thing is these wireless hearing aids still work even when you’re not using your phone.
A sophisticated program that enables it to be compatible with both smart-phones and landlines is a stand out feature of modern hearing aids. The technology works by holding the hearing device up to the phone and streaming the sound from the one to the other.
Bluetooth compatibility is also a standard feature of today’s hearing aid tech. Pairing your hearing aid up with your smart-phone is exactly the same as pairing your phone with any other Bluetooth device. The sound goes directly to your hearing aids when it rings.
Don’t allow hearing loss to ruin your friendships and other relationships. Do what you must to get back on your phone, and start talking again. It’s time to schedule an appointment with a hearing specialist to check out the newest hearing aid technology.