Contemporary cell phones have become much clearer and more reliable nowadays. But in some cases, it will still be challenging to hear what the person on the other end is saying. And for individuals who have hearing loss, it can be particularly difficult.
Now, you may be thinking: there’s an easy remedy for that, right? Why not utilize a set of hearing aids to make your phone conversations a little easier? Well, that’s not… exactly… how it works. In reality, while hearing aids can make in person conversations a lot easier to handle, there are some challenges related to phone-based conversations. But there are definitely some things you can do to make your phone calls more effective.
Why hearing aids and phone calls don’t always play nice
Hearing loss normally progresses slowly. It isn’t like someone simply turns down the general volume on your ears. It tends to go in bits and pieces. It’s likely that you won’t even detect you have hearing loss and your brain will try to use contextual and visual clues to compensate.
So when you get on the phone, all of that contextual info disappears. Your Brain doesn’t have the info it requires to fill in the blanks. You only hear parts and pieces of the other individual’s voice which sounds muffled and distorted.
Hearing aids can help – here’s how
This can be improved by wearing hearing aids. They’ll especially help your ears fill in a lot of those missing pieces. But talking on the phone while wearing hearing aids can introduce some accessibility problems.
Feedback can occur when your hearing aids come close to a phone, for instance. This can make things hard to hear and uncomfortable.
Bettering your ability to hear phone conversations
So what steps can be taken to help make your hearing aids function better with a phone? Well, there are a few tips that most hearing specialists will endorse:
- Don’t hide your hearing problems from the individual you’re talking to: If phone calls are hard for you, it’s okay to admit that! You might simply need to be a little more patient, or you might want to consider switching to text, email, or video chat.
- Utilize other assistive hearing devices: Devices, including numerous text-to-type services, are available to help you hear better when you’re having phone conversations.
- Stream your phone to your hearing aid via Bluetooth. Yes, contemporary hearing aids can stream to your cellphone using Bluetooth! This means you’ll be able to stream phone calls directly to your hearing aids (if your hearing aids are Bluetooth capable). This can eliminate feedback and make your phone calls a little more private, so it’s a good place to begin if you’re having difficulty on your phone.
- Try to take your phone calls in a quiet location. The less noise near you, the easier it will be to make out the voice of the person you’re speaking with. If you control background noise during phone conversations your hearing aids will perform so much better.
- Consider utilizing speakerphone to conduct most of your phone conversations: This will protect against the most severe feedback. There might still be some distortion, but your phone call should be mostly understandable (while maybe not necessarily private). Knowing how to better hold your phone with hearing aids (that is, away from your ears) is critical, and speakerphone is how you accomplish this!
- Make use of video apps: Face-timing someone or jumping onto a video chat can be a great way to help you hear better. It isn’t that the sound quality is somehow better, it’s that your brain has access to all of that fantastic visual information again. And this can help you put context to what’s being said.
Depending on your overall hearing needs, how often you use the phone, and what you use your phone for, the appropriate set of solutions will be available. Your ability to once more enjoy phone conversations will be made possible with the correct approach.
Contact us for some help and advice on how to best utilize your phone and hearing aids together.