For the average hearing aid wearer, the ability to use telephone effectively is a very important consideration. One of the needs as a human is to be able to communicate with the world and our loved ones. In the modern world that incudes the ability to speak on the phone and video calls.
One of the most common issues plaguing the hearing aid wearer is the feedback or whistling that can occur when the wearer attempts to use the telephone in a normal manner. Although some devices, like in the ear hearing aids, will work just fine by placing the handset near the ear, but not directly covering it. A slight tilt of the handset one way or the other may be all you need to stop the whistling. With behind the ear hearing aids it is beneficial to place the speaker of the phone at the top of the ear where the microphone of the hearing aid is positioned. The sound from the phone can then be picked up and amplified according to the settings of the hearing aid.
The wonderful benefit of hearing aids also includes phone programs that will be automatically activated when a telephone is detected. These programs can be fine tuned to give the wearer the best possible hearing on the phone. There are also telecoil phones and amplified phones available that will amplify the call. Some hearing aids have a telecoil which is a small induction coil that will allow your hearing aid to connect to sources of electromagnetic energy. This will connect to the telecoil phone and cut out background noise and enable the hearing aid wearer to hear the voice on the phone without feedback and environmental noise.
The possibility of Bluetooth communication between your phone and hearing aids are now also possible. The hearing aid can be paired to the phone directly or through a secondary device. This will enable the wearer to hear the voice of the caller directly in the hearing aids without having to put the phone close to the ear. This technology is available from all the hearing aid companies and can be paired with most of the newer cell phones.
This Bluetooth connection between hearing aids and cell phones has opened a whole new world of communication to hearing aid wearers.
– Carien De Jager