If your holiday shopping list includes someone whose hearing isn’t what it used to be, consider giving the gift of clear and confident communication with amplified telephones, phone line boosters, hearing aid compatible phones, or other assistive listening devices. Easy to use and inexpensive, these tools can literally be life changing for anyone with even a mild degree of hearing impairment.
The telephone has become an indispensable part of everyday communication for just about everyone, in just about every circumstance; we count on the phone for business, for social interaction, for setting appointments and brief consultations, and most of us even consider our phone as our lifeline in case of an emergency.
But for the hearing impaired, it’s a different story. Most people who are even slightly hard of hearing find that talking on the phone is a major challenge. Many older people find that even if they can hear adequately in person, over the phone voices sound faint, distant, and muffled. Unless the person on the other end is speaking very slowly, their words often seem to run together into an indistinguishable river of noise. And if there’s any static or background interference, it’s even worse.
For many older people an ordinary phone call can be an exercise in frustration and embarrassment. If the conversation is social, the inevitable misunderstandings are inconvenient and annoying; in some cases, like a discussion with a pharmacist about medication, misunderstandings can be downright life threatening.
Amplified telephones, phone line boosters, and other assistive listening devices can’t restore normal hearing, but they can and do restore the ability to communicate clearly, comfortably, and with confidence.
Phone line amplifiers and amplified handsets are simple, easy-to-connect devices that give ordinary telephones a significant volume boost. Most line or handset amplifiers are designed to do one thing and one thing only: they boost the volume of incoming voices. But what they lack in features, they make up for in convenience and portability. This makes them a good option for people who need a high-volume phone but aren’t always in a situation where hooking up an amplified phone is feasible – for instance, at work or when traveling.
Simply making incoming voices louder is enough of an assist to make phone conversations feasible for some, but for many older people increasing volume is only part of the solution. For those with moderate to significant hearing loss, pitch, frequency, and background noise are all important factors.
Amplified telephones not only provide incoming volume boost, they also offer a broad range of features that can dramatically enhance speech clarity. Both conventional and cordless units with adjustable frequency controls, digital processing that filters out background noise, and even tone correction capability are available, many with volume amplification up to as much as 50 db. Amplified phones make coping with hearing loss easier for the person losing their hearing, as well as their loved ones.
If you’re looking for telephones for hard of hearing people which provide the maximum amplification along with advanced frequency, tone, and noise filtering capability, consider the Ameriphone XL 50 – a good choice when other phones just aren’t powerful enough. Check out our post on phones for hard of hearing folks for more information.
"Amazing sound quality! Large numbers and a lighted display makes it easy to read! Would recommend to anyone with hearing loss or bad eye sight!!"
"...a phone to make the hard of hearing rejoice! Simple to use! Just plug it in. You control the volume! Inexpensive! You won't be sorry."
