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Hearing impaired home phone (land line). Your suggestions appreciated.
Reviewing home phones for my hearing impaired M.I.L. She uses a hearing aid, but still has a more difficult situation when using her home phone. Your suggestions are appreciated, if you have a specific model type that you consider worthy of the task.
Hi Catch- I'm in the same situation re hearing, and had an old "500" style phone with lots of extra room inside, so I built-in a small audio amp with a loudness control for the earpiece. Works great.
I would think that almost any cordless phone (yes, they still make those!) would be good for this sort of thing, because they are all electronics and surely have loudness controls. You might even find something like that at a nearby Radio Shack. For that matter, most likely any phone, cordless or not, will be all-electronic these days, and so have some sort of loudness/level adjustment. Will be very interested to hear what you wind up with and how it works.
I'm going to need a hearing aid or aids in the near future so I have been researching the subject.
Some phones have settings on them for hearing aids. Also, some hearing aids have accessories or capabilities to pick up phone calls or make it easier to hear on the phone.
So it might depend on what brand and model of hearing aid she has to determine which option is better and or less expensive.
Hello John- Here's the deal on hearing aid compatibility with phones:
First, let me say that my hearing aids are pretty much state-of-the art, so this info should be current. As far as I know, almost any top-line digital hearing aid will have similar or equivalent features.
How they work: general overview-
The hearing aid will generally have two directional microphones, on the theory that the two microphones will help with determining the direction that the picked-up sound is coming from. This "front-end" of the hearing aid is still good old analog technology, but for processing it is almost immediately converted into digital sound.
If you have ever done any music or audio work on a computer, you will be familiar with the immense resources available to shape and modify sound once it is in digital form. The same general approach is used in digital hearing aids: the sound is tailored to provide modification which is closely matched to your specific hearing loss. When you are first tested to determine the type and extent of your loss, the technicians will generate response curves that closely track your specific hearing loss- note that if both ears are involved, these response curves may be quite different for each ear.
Once you have determined, with the help of your audiologist, what specific brand/type of hearing aid that you will be trying, then that hearing aid will be programmed by computer to generate response curves as closely matched to your individual loss as possible. (Generally speaking, the frequency response amplification curves of the hearing aid will be inverse to your loss curves.) Each hearing aid will have a button for general adjustment of the gain level.
Each hearing aid will also have a number of features or user modes. These are typically chosen by a small button on each hearing aid which will "step through" the various modes. Again typically, these modes might include "normal speech", "music", or "telephone". The "telephone" mode usually switches in a magnetic pickup coil which is contained within the hearing aid, and is used in place of or perhaps in addition to the normal microphones. The theory here is that the pickup coil, by being placed in close proximity to the telephone earpiece, can "intercept" some of the magnetic energy being used to drive the earpiece and transfer that energy as electrical impulses directly into the hearing aid. Note that this energy transfer does not involve sound itself, but simply "transformer action" of the magnetic and electrical energy present around the telephone earpiece.
The usefulness of this type of energy input evidently varies widely depending upon the type of telephone equipment being used (how much magnetic energy is available, and how close it may be physically to the earpiece). I have to report that after trying this mode for several months I came to the conclusion that it didn't work all that well, at least for my situation. Definitely worth a try, though.
Once the hearing aid has completed the digital modification of the input sound, it is once again converted back to analog, for detection by your ears.
That's pretty much a quick summary/overview of the entire process. If anyone has any additional questions that I can answer I'll be more than happy to help!
Thank OJ for that comprehensive report. This whole hearing aid sector is a fascinating one and also sometimes a discouraging one. I know a elderly woman who has nothing but troubles with her aids.
I met someone a few months back while in the middle of our conversation said he had a phone call. He had a iPhone and was able to hear the other person in his hearing aids. He talked to the phone normally. I guess it was some kind of a Bluetooth connection? I didn't inquire.
I am planning on getting something the next time I am back stateside. I hear that Costco has reasonable prices.
The mechanism of the ear itself is pretty interesting, in that it does a whole lot of mechanical tricks to amplify the sounds which impact the eardrum, and then converts that amplified mechanical energy to electrical impulses for processing by the brain. Unless and until you have a significant hearing loss, you cannot imagine the complexity of the processing that must be involved. For instance, in a busy restaurant with perhaps fairly loud music playing as well, most people can without too much trouble not only differentiate between the background noise, the music, and table conversation, but specifically listen to one particular conversation among the many which are simultaneously in progress.
Since this must be possible because of the brain's power to quantify and discriminate among the many competing sounds (as opposed to the relatively straightforward operation of the ear itself), it might be supposed that restoration of sound amplitudes by use of a hearing aid should allow the brain to perform much as before the hearing loss. This simply is not true.
One thing which it's important to note: even with the best of currently available hearing aids, for some reason the ability to effectively discriminate between competing sounds and noise (the signal-to-signal and signal-to-noise ratios, if you will) is severely diminished. With luck and practice you can improve this situation somewhat, but if the competing audio sources are of sufficient loudness, the brain for some reason simply cannot make the differentiation.
I met someone a few months back while in the middle of our conversation said he had a phone call. He had a iPhone and was able to hear the other person in his hearing aids. He talked to the phone normally. I guess it was some kind of a Bluetooth connection? I didn't inquire.
Yes, John- I didn't want to go into that aspect of the technology because of the length of the commentary. You are exactly right- the very latest in the technology allows direct transfer via radio (bluetooth) links from any sound source which has an audio output available. What's happening is that the sound source modulates a radio link to the hearing aids. I believe that some of the currently available hearing aides require the user to wear a small separate receiver unit when listening to an external audio source, which is then coupled into the hearing aid proper, as that is one hell of a lot of stuff to pack into something as small as a hearing aid. Tomorrow, who knows?
Our Costco here in SF has a pretty complete hearing aid setup. They can do all of the stuff that I mentioned up above, and I'm sure that their prices will be hard to beat. I usually get my hearing aid batteries there. Costco is a pretty decent outfit all the way around.
To go back to catch22's question; maybe there is an answer not in the phone but in the aid the MIL has? Some kind of aftermarket connection that she can use to have phone conversations?
To go back to catch22's question; maybe there is an answer not in the phone but in the aid the MIL has? Some kind of aftermarket connection that she can use to have phone conversations?
One can improve the phone calling experience for a person with hearing aides by simply plugging in a head set into the audio jack of the phone. I do this for my mom. With the added facetime (i-phone) feature it reminds her to hold the phone in front of her to see the person she is talking to and keeps her from banging the phone up against the head set.
Wireless headset would be even nicer.
I'm amazed at the cost of these devices. Costco has a nice long warranty and customer service is great when you are out if town (any Costco store nationwide will treat you like you are home).
You describe exactly what has become more difficult for me, which is differentiating between the person who's talking to me and all the other background noises when the person talking to me is further away or when they're not looking at me. But does what you're saying mean the brain loses its ability to distinguish between all the different noises, or is it just that the reduced hearing because of the ear takes away something the brain would normally need to do its job and hearing aids haven't been able to reverse that (yet).
does what you're saying mean the brain loses its ability to distinguish between all the different noises, or is it just that the reduced hearing because of the ear takes away something the brain would normally need to do its job and hearing aids haven't been able to reverse that (yet).
Yes, that is exactly the question. So far I've not really gotten an answer to that one.
I'm going to need a hearing aid or aids in the near future so I have been researching the subject.
Don't say that!
Sometimes I wonder if I'll be happy if I can hear and see less. So much nonsense in this world. I'm going to start pretending I cannot hear people pretty soon now. Might be seriously entertaining, I think, at least for me.
Comments
I would think that almost any cordless phone (yes, they still make those!) would be good for this sort of thing, because they are all electronics and surely have loudness controls. You might even find something like that at a nearby Radio Shack. For that matter, most likely any phone, cordless or not, will be all-electronic these days, and so have some sort of loudness/level adjustment. Will be very interested to hear what you wind up with and how it works.
OJ
Some phones have settings on them for hearing aids. Also, some hearing aids have accessories or capabilities to pick up phone calls or make it easier to hear on the phone.
So it might depend on what brand and model of hearing aid she has to determine which option is better and or less expensive.
First, let me say that my hearing aids are pretty much state-of-the art, so this info should be current. As far as I know, almost any top-line digital hearing aid will have similar or equivalent features.
How they work: general overview-
The hearing aid will generally have two directional microphones, on the theory that the two microphones will help with determining the direction that the picked-up sound is coming from. This "front-end" of the hearing aid is still good old analog technology, but for processing it is almost immediately converted into digital sound.
If you have ever done any music or audio work on a computer, you will be familiar with the immense resources available to shape and modify sound once it is in digital form. The same general approach is used in digital hearing aids: the sound is tailored to provide modification which is closely matched to your specific hearing loss. When you are first tested to determine the type and extent of your loss, the technicians will generate response curves that closely track your specific hearing loss- note that if both ears are involved, these response curves may be quite different for each ear.
Once you have determined, with the help of your audiologist, what specific brand/type of hearing aid that you will be trying, then that hearing aid will be programmed by computer to generate response curves as closely matched to your individual loss as possible. (Generally speaking, the frequency response amplification curves of the hearing aid will be inverse to your loss curves.) Each hearing aid will have a button for general adjustment of the gain level.
Each hearing aid will also have a number of features or user modes. These are typically chosen by a small button on each hearing aid which will "step through" the various modes. Again typically, these modes might include "normal speech", "music", or "telephone". The "telephone" mode usually switches in a magnetic pickup coil which is contained within the hearing aid, and is used in place of or perhaps in addition to the normal microphones. The theory here is that the pickup coil, by being placed in close proximity to the telephone earpiece, can "intercept" some of the magnetic energy being used to drive the earpiece and transfer that energy as electrical impulses directly into the hearing aid. Note that this energy transfer does not involve sound itself, but simply "transformer action" of the magnetic and electrical energy present around the telephone earpiece.
The usefulness of this type of energy input evidently varies widely depending upon the type of telephone equipment being used (how much magnetic energy is available, and how close it may be physically to the earpiece). I have to report that after trying this mode for several months I came to the conclusion that it didn't work all that well, at least for my situation. Definitely worth a try, though.
Once the hearing aid has completed the digital modification of the input sound, it is once again converted back to analog, for detection by your ears.
That's pretty much a quick summary/overview of the entire process. If anyone has any additional questions that I can answer I'll be more than happy to help!
Regards- OJ
I met someone a few months back while in the middle of our conversation said he had a phone call. He had a iPhone and was able to hear the other person in his hearing aids. He talked to the phone normally. I guess it was some kind of a Bluetooth connection? I didn't inquire.
I am planning on getting something the next time I am back stateside. I hear that Costco has reasonable prices.
Regarding the limitations of hearing aids:
The mechanism of the ear itself is pretty interesting, in that it does a whole lot of mechanical tricks to amplify the sounds which impact the eardrum, and then converts that amplified mechanical energy to electrical impulses for processing by the brain. Unless and until you have a significant hearing loss, you cannot imagine the complexity of the processing that must be involved. For instance, in a busy restaurant with perhaps fairly loud music playing as well, most people can without too much trouble not only differentiate between the background noise, the music, and table conversation, but specifically listen to one particular conversation among the many which are simultaneously in progress.
Since this must be possible because of the brain's power to quantify and discriminate among the many competing sounds (as opposed to the relatively straightforward operation of the ear itself), it might be supposed that restoration of sound amplitudes by use of a hearing aid should allow the brain to perform much as before the hearing loss. This simply is not true.
One thing which it's important to note: even with the best of currently available hearing aids, for some reason the ability to effectively discriminate between competing sounds and noise (the signal-to-signal and signal-to-noise ratios, if you will) is severely diminished. With luck and practice you can improve this situation somewhat, but if the competing audio sources are of sufficient loudness, the brain for some reason simply cannot make the differentiation.
OJ
Our Costco here in SF has a pretty complete hearing aid setup. They can do all of the stuff that I mentioned up above, and I'm sure that their prices will be hard to beat. I usually get my hearing aid batteries there. Costco is a pretty decent outfit all the way around.
OJ
@catch22 ,
To go back to catch22's question; maybe there is an answer not in the phone but in the aid the MIL has? Some kind of aftermarket connection that she can use to have phone conversations?
I guess we need an audiologist on MFO.
Wireless headset would be even nicer.
I'm amazed at the cost of these devices. Costco has a nice long warranty and customer service is great when you are out if town (any Costco store nationwide will treat you like you are home).
You describe exactly what has become more difficult for me, which is differentiating between the person who's talking to me and all the other background noises when the person talking to me is further away or when they're not looking at me. But does what you're saying mean the brain loses its ability to distinguish between all the different noises, or is it just that the reduced hearing because of the ear takes away something the brain would normally need to do its job and hearing aids haven't been able to reverse that (yet).
Thanks, LLJB
Sometimes I wonder if I'll be happy if I can hear and see less. So much nonsense in this world. I'm going to start pretending I cannot hear people pretty soon now. Might be seriously entertaining, I think, at least for me.