Is your loss of hearing causing you to chat less often on the phone? You may feel isolated as time passes because of your hearing loss. You don’t have to quit using your phone. There are ways to work it out so you can remain in touch with your loved ones.
It’s All About Communication
With any relationship, communication is an essential aspect and the same goes for your phone. What can be done improve the situation is the important question.
- Have you had a hearing test? Your hearing loss may not be permanent so it’s essential to get a proper diagnosis. Simple things such as earwax buildup or an ear infection will cause temporary hearing loss.
- Are the voices too soft? Perhaps the volume needs to be turned up.
- If the volume is already on high, have you tried out an accessory such as headphones or Bluetooth? It’s a relatively affordable way to enhance the sound quality on the phone, and that might be all you require.
After you rule out some of the more obvious problems, you can look at other possible solutions that will get you back on the phone.
There’s an App For That
You will really have a choice between several apps. There are many apps you can download that will work to get you, and your phone back on the same page, some of which are pretty cool.
What the other person says can be turned to text with some of these apps. These apps don’t all work perfectly but they can be very helpful. Brands to look up include:
- Note, Listen for Deaf
- Hamilton Mobile Cap Tel
- Live Caption
You can’t get all voice to text apps for free but the majority won’t cost very much.
Phones Made For The Hard of Hearing
Some phones work the same way as an app if you are looking for a landline option. They make it much easier to hear by amplifying the voice on the other end. An equalizer makes the high pitched sounds that usually drop off clearer.
Another alternative is a captioning phone. You have to have a special phone that has a screen if you want to use the captioning service. With this service, the words are repeated or typed into software by a third-party operator and are then displayed on the screen of the phone. Most captioning devices require internet service, as well.
Text-to-Voice Teletype (TTY) is an old-school phone system that is still around and works similarly to the captioning phone. A separate device to display the text is needed, however.
Getting Hearing Aids is Your Best Bet
Modern 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 improve sound quality. Modern 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.
Compatibility with both landlines and smartphones is possible with modern, high quality hearing aids. The technology works by holding the hearing device up to the phone and streaming the sound from one to the other.
Many digital hearing aids are also Bluetooth compatible. You pair the phone up with the hearing aids exactly the same as you would with wireless headphones or earbuds. The sound goes right to your hearing aids when it rings.
There isn’t any reason to allow hearing loss to damage a perfectly good relationship. Get back on your phone whatever it takes so you can start talking again. It’s time to make an appointment with a hearing specialist to check out the newest hearing aid technology.