These days, the cellular phone network is much more dependable (and there’s a lot less static involved). But that doesn’t mean everybody can hear you all the time. In fact, there’s one population for whom using a phone isn’t always a reliable experience: those who have hearing loss.
Now, you may be thinking: there’s an easy remedy for that, right? Can’t you make use of some hearing aids to help you understand phone conversations better? Actually, it doesn’t work precisely that way. It turns out that, while hearing aids can make face-to-face conversations a great deal easier to manage, there are some difficulties related to phone-based conversations. But there are certainly a few things you can do to make your phone calls more successful.
Phone calls and hearing aids don’t always work well together – here’s why
Hearing loss usually isn’t sudden. Your hearing typically doesn’t just go. It tends to go a little at a time. This can make it difficult to even detect when you have hearing loss, especially because your brain tries really hard to fill in the gaps with context clues and other visual information.
When you talk on the phone, you no longer have these visual clues. Your Brain lacks the info it requires to fill in the blanks. There’s only a really distorted voice and you only hear bits and pieces of the range of the other individual’s voice.
Hearing aids can help – here’s how
This can be helped by wearing hearing aids. Many of those missing pieces can be filled in with hearing aids. But there are some distinctive accessibility and communication difficulties that arise from using hearing aids while talking on the phone.
Feedback can happen when your hearing aids come close to a phone, for instance. This can lead to some uncomfortable gaps in conversation because you can’t hear that well.
Tips to enhance the phone call experience
So, what can you do to overcome the difficulties of using a phone with hearing aids? Well, there are a number of tips that the majority of hearing specialists will suggest:
- Consider utilizing speakerphone to carry out the majority of your phone conversations: This will prevent the most serious feedback. There may still be some distortion, but your phone call should be mostly understandable (if not necessarily private). The best way to keep your phone and your hearing aid away from each other is by using speakerphone.
- Don’t conceal your hearing problems from the individual you’re talking to: If phone calls are difficult for you, it’s okay to admit that! You may simply need to be a little extra patient, or you might want to consider using text, email, or video chat.
- Try to take your phone calls in a quiet spot. The less noise near you, the easier it will be to pick out the voice of the individual you’re on the phone with. Your hearing aids will be much more effective by reducing background noise.
- Stream your phone to your hearing aid using Bluetooth. Yes, contemporary hearing aids can stream to your smartphone via Bluetooth! This means you’ll be capable of streaming phone calls directly to your hearing aids (if your hearing aids are Bluetooth capable). This can get rid of feedback and make your phone calls a bit more private, so it’s a good place to begin if you’re having difficulty on your phone.
- Use video apps: Face-timing someone or hopping onto a video chat can be a very good way to help you hear better. It’s not that the sound quality is magically better, it’s that your brain has use of all of that amazing visual information again. And once more, this kind of contextual information will be greatly helpful.
- Utilize other assistive hearing devices: There are other assistive devices and services that can help you hear better during a phone conversation (and this includes numerous text-to-type services).
Depending on your overall hearing needs, how frequently you use the phone, and what you use your phone for, the appropriate set of solutions will be available. With the right approach, you’ll have the resources you require to begin enjoying those phone conversations again.
If you need more guidance on how to utilize hearing aids with your phone, call us, we can help.