Is there is special person in your life who has trouble understanding on the telephone? Are you sick and tired of repeating every other sentence? Is the person still confused about what you said even after you have repeated it several times?
Well! Maybe the best future gift is a new hearing aid compatible amplified telephone. Also, you might want to consider a new hearing aid that has a T coil (telephone compatible) circuit.
What makes a telephone compatible with a hearing aid?
The part of the telephone that is held up to the ear when talking and listening is the hand held receiver or handset. When a normal hearing person listens to the phone receiver, they hear the voice of the other person coming out of the phone.
If the same phone is also built to be hearing aid compatible, the receiver also gives off a second signal which we do not normally hear, called an electromagnetic signal.
These are electromagnetic waves which move out of and travel around the telephone receiver. They carry the same information as the voice of the person speaking at the other end of the phone.
If these electromagnetic waves are strong, and the hearing aid that the person is wearing is built to receive these waves, the person can hear the talker louder and more clearly than with a regular telephone.
According to federal law, every new telephone sold must clearly list on its packaging whether the phone is hearing-aid compatible.
Why are hearing aids without T-coils not compatible with telephones?
A hearing aid is basically several electronic components wired together. The component which picks up sounds and voices to make them louder is called the microphone.
Hearing aid microphones are very small and sensitive. If you cover one up with a hat, your hand, a hug or with a telephone hand held receiver, it immediately begins to whistle. This is because you are restricting its normal operation and it begins to saturate the sound.
If a person wearing a hearing aid tries to talk on the phone while it is whistling, all they will hear is the whistle and so will the person talking on the other end. To stop this whistling, the person wearing the hearing aid must either turn it down or take it out of the ear.
This stops the whistling, but the other result is that the voice of the person on the other end will not be loud or clear enough for the hearing impaired person to understand.
How does a T coil make a hearing aid
compatible with a telephone?
A T-coil is an extra electronic circuit that can be added to a custom hearing aid and it usually comes standard in a behind the ear aid.
It is made up of three components: A wired coil; a pre amplifier; and a switch. The only part that you can see is the switch.
When a hearing aid has a T-coil circuit and the telephone rings, before answering the phone the person flips the T coil switch. When the switch is flipped, the microphone shuts off (eliminating the whistling) and the electro magnetic coil inside of the hearing aid is turned on.
If the telephone radiates strong electro magnetic waves, and the hearing aid has a strong T coil pick up, the person wearing the hearing aid can hear over the phone more loudly and clearly. When the phone call is ended, the switch is flipped back to the microphone position for normal listening.
The best telephone choice for a person with a hearing loss is an amplified hearing aid compatible speaker telephone that has three amplifiers:
-
An amplified ringer
- An amplified hand held receiver
- An amplified speaker.
Who does not need a T-coil on their hearing aid?
- Persons who have hearing within normal limits.
- Persons who have one normal ear and listens on the phone with
this good hear, and wears the hearing aid on the poorer ear.
- Persons who have hearing loss in both ears, but wears only one
hearing aid in the poorer ear and hears well on the phone
with the better ear.
Who needs a T-coil on their hearing aid?
- Persons who have one dead/deaf ear and wears one hearing aid in the
better ear.
- Persons who wear two hearing aids.
Speaker phones are useful when:
- Person does not hear clearly when a telephone is held up to the
hearing aid in one or the other ear;
- Person has difficulty holding the telephone to the ear;
- Person needs to move around while talking on the telephone.
When you call and schedule an appointment for a hearing evaluation in your home, Dr. Goldstein checks out all of the phones in your home to make sure that at least one phone is hearing aid compatible.
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