Phones for the hearing impared?

Hopefully hamburgboy will drop by. He's got a few things to say on the topic.

My son uses http://www.sorensonvrs.com/?gclid=CKvHrIHd17YCFQVU4AodlTAAFQ for his phone calls. They have live interperters who have headsets on and talk for you when you call non-deaf people. If know people who have a VRS system you can call them directly. I don't know what the cost is, we received ours for free years ago as a promotion. Since he is now a teenager he primarily uses either his iPod (face time) or his cell phone for texting.

I am always ready to listen to Hamburger

Thanks. The problem isn't that severe. I need help with higher frequencies, and the very soft voiced people. I doubt anything will help with the mumblers.

You might consider an internet phone in which you can wear headphones. You'll be able to adjust the volume to almost anything you want and, with some sound cards, can also adjust the treble and bass in an equalizer.

Sorry for the confusion.

Here is a store here in Colorado that I'm sure does internet shipping. They specialize in products for the deaf and hard of hearing. We have purchased an alarm clock and fire alarm from them. Good products. Haven't had to use the fire alarm yet.

http://www.adcohearing.com/

Roger, the phone I hear by far the best with is a now fairly old (not sure, 6 years?) AT&T 210. It was very cheap (19.99? or less), has no bells and whistles - but I can hear most people much much better with it. Alas, no caller i.d., no answer device, no nada. I keep it though, so I can resort to calling soft voiced people back on it if I have answered them with one of my fancier phones.

So - I think the AT & T stores probably have demo phones.. or do they? Never have been to one. Maybe you need some better phone, though, this was just a thought.

I've marked the site. There's many I haven't seen at amazon. Still, I'm hoping for someone that has actually used one of the phones. It's a big investment if it doesn't help; small change if it does.

The AT&T phone I have is better for me than most of the more expensive models. Not ideal, but better than most. I spend too much time talking to little, old ladies with faded voices to get much benefit from it. Now, if I knew of a cell phone that were as good as the cheapie AT&T model, I would be delighted - if it were on the TracPhone network.

Headphones can be very good, but not all my calls are outgoing.

roger ,

" the hearing loss association of america " has some info on telephones

available : http://www.hearingloss.org/content/telephones

i suggest you also check to see if they have an office / store near by .

my hearing loss is moderate at this time so i have an inexpensive " vtech "

phone with adjustable volume ( $ 50 ) that serves me quite well .

i just got my first hearing aid about a month ago and it has all kinds of fancy

settings on its volume controller ( phone , music , blu-ray ) - i think i'll need

an engineering degree to get the hang of it ( i just leave it on its standard

setting ) .

if you think i can be of help , just let me know .

btw even with the hearing aid i still find it difficult to find the correct setting

if i'm speaking with more than two people ( of course , it's easy if you want

to " tune out " ; if there are too many people blabbering around .

a click of the button and you'll enjoy " serenety " . )

My obsolete aids only have three settings. They are bad, not so good, and terrible. Okay, four settings if you count 'mute'. I'm hoping to get the not so good improved as the local hospital's audiology lab says they can still program my model. The local shop is just incapable of doing the job.

As for phones, it looks like Baldimo's link has the biggest selection, but they're in the Denver area, so I would have to take a chance on an internet order.

Good luck with it, hope you get something that really helps!

I would think that voice can be translated into the written word. I know I can talk to my computer to get some programs.

You might look into this URL.
http://web-japan.org/trends/11_sci-tech/sci120126.html

Well, it's not so bad I need it in writing. I just want more volumn and somewhat more clarity. Thanks for the idea, but at least for now, it would be overkill.

We all have some deafness if we used loud volumes to listen to music when we were young. While in the USAF, I made a hifi set from those assembly sets, and we listened to music at high volumes. Now, my hearing isn't so good; my wife tells me that the volume on the tv is too loud when I watch some movies (VCR and DVD's) before I sleep. I use headphones when she wants to sleep.

I didn't form an opinion on phones, but here's an interesting discovery for my hard of hearing acquaintences in New Mexico:

http://www.cdhh.state.nm.us/TEDP.aspx

It seems the hearing impared can receive a phone and two accessories from the state, and this seems to be a nationwide program paid for by one of those nasty little taxes you can find on your landline bill. This is not a gift; it is a three year loan.

The site Baldimo recommended, and Amazon have bigger selections, but I've got an idea that after three years I will have an idea of whether the device is useful.

They require a current audiologist's report of some sort, and you have to certify that <hee hee> that your annual income <ha ha> does not exceed 50,000.

ETA: Medicare, whether with Medicaid or not covers hearing evaluations.

I'm not sure about MediCaid, but MediCare does provide for hearing aides.

I've been told Medicare does not, and I have that from the audiologist at the hospital. An example of what I've run into is that they do cover the evaluation. I've an appointment for adjustment of my old aids, and they tell me I will have to pay that myself.

Thanks for the tip, though. I'll look into it and hope she is wrong and you are right.