Are you finding yourself talking less frequently on the phone because you have difficulty hearing? Hearing loss, as time goes by, can cause you to feel isolated. Don’t just quit using your phone. There are ways to work it out so you can stay in touch with your loved ones.
Communication is The key
They say communication is the essential thing with any relationship, and that is indeed true when it comes to your phone. What can be done to make things better is the important question.
- An ear exam is a good idea. Your hearing loss might not be permanent so it’s important to get a proper diagnosis. It might be something as basic as earwax buildup or an ear infection.
- Are the voices hard to hear? It’s possible the volume needs to be turned up.
- Bluetooth or headphones might be options if you’ve already turned the volume up. It’s a comparatively inexpensive way to improve the sound quality on the phone, and that may be all you need.
When you eliminate some of the more obvious issues, you can take a look at other solutions that will get you back on the phone.
There’s an App For That
There are actually several possible 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.
Some apps turn what the other person says to text you can read. These apps don’t all work perfectly but they can be very helpful. Brands to look up include:
Most voice to text apps are reasonably priced though not all are free.
Phones For The Hard of Hearing
If you want to find a landline solution, you can find phones for your home that do the same thing as an app. By amplifying the voice an the other end, they make it less difficult to hear. They also work to equalize the tone, so high pitched sounds that have a tendency to get lost become clearer.
Another way to go is a captioning phone. The captioning service requires a special phone which has an LCD screen. Captioning works with an operator that either repeats the spoken words so speech recognition software can translate them into text or types them directly into the system. The words are then displayed on the captioning phone’s screen. The majority of captioning devices need 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. However, it does call for a separate device to display the text.
Getting Hearing Aids is Your Best Choice
The times when you would get ear piercing feedback anytime your hearing aids came near a phone are over. You can get hearing aid compatible phones which eliminate background noise and other interference to enhance sound quality. Modern hearing aid technology is compatible with these phones. The best thing is these wireless hearing aids will still work even when you’re not using your phone.
State of the art, quality hearing aids can also have a more cutting edge program that allows them to be compatible with virtually any phone whether it’s a landline or smartphone. The technology functions by holding the hearing device up to the phone and streaming the sound from the one to the other.
Many digital hearing aids are also Bluetooth compatible. 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 right to your hearing aids when it rings.
Don’t permit 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 make an appointment with a hearing specialist to check out the newest hearing aid technology.