Contemporary cell phones have become much clearer and more reliable nowadays. But that doesn’t mean everyone can hear you all the time. And for people who have hearing loss, it can be particularly difficult.
Now, you may be thinking: there’s an easy fix for that, right? Why not use a pair of hearing aids to make your phone conversations a little easier? Well, that’s not… exactly… how it works. Even though hearing aids do help with conversations, with phone conversations it can be a little more difficult. But there are certainly a few things you can do to make your phone calls more effective.
Phone calls and hearing aids don’t always work effectively together – here’s why
Hearing loss generally isn’t sudden. It isn’t like somebody simply turns down the overall volume on your ears. You tend to lose bits and pieces over time. It’s likely that you won’t even notice you have hearing loss and your brain will try to use contextual and visual clues to compensate.
So when you get on a phone, all of that contextual info disappears. Your Brain doesn’t have the info it needs to fill in the blanks. You only hear parts and pieces of the other person’s voice which sounds muffled and distorted.
How hearing aids can be helpful
This can be helped by using hearing aids. Many of those missing pieces can be filled in by using hearing aids. But talking on the phone while wearing hearing aids can introduce some accessibility problems.
Feedback can happen when your hearing aids come near a phone, for example. This can make things difficult to hear and uncomfortable.
Tips to enhance the phone call experience
So what measures can be taken to help make your hearing aids function better with a phone? the majority of hearing specialists will recommend a few tips:
- Be honest with the person you’re talking to on the phone: If phone calls are difficult for you, it’s fine to admit that! You may simply need to be a little more patient, or you may want to think about using text, email, or video chat.
- Hearing aids aren’t the only assistive hearing device you can get: Devices, including numerous text-to-type services, are available to help you hear better when you’re having phone conversations.
- Switch your phone to speaker mode as frequently as possible: Most feedback can be avoided this way. Your phone calls may not be very private, but even though there still might be some distortion, you should be able to better understand the voice on the other end. The best way to keep your phone and your hearing aid away from each other is by using speakerphone.
- Use video apps: Face-timing somebody or jumping onto a video chat can be a great way to help you hear better. The sound won’t be louder or clearer, but at least you will have that visual information back. And this can help you add context to what’s being said.
- You can utilize your Bluetooth function on your hearing aid to connect to your phone. Wait, can hearing aids stream to smartphones? Yes, they can! This means you’ll be able to stream phone calls directly to your hearing aids (if your hearing aids are Bluetooth capable). If you’re having trouble using your phone with your hearing aid, a great place to begin getting rid of feedback would be switching to Bluetooth.
- Find a quiet spot to conduct your phone calls. It will be much easier to hear the voice on the other end if there’s less background sound. Your hearing aids will be much more effective by decreasing background noise.
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 accessible. Your ability to once again enjoy phone conversations will be made possible with the right approach.
Contact us for some help and advice on how to best use your phone and hearing aids together.