Contemporary cell phones have become a lot clearer and more reliable nowadays. But sometimes, 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.
There must be a simple fix for that, right? Why not use a pair of hearing aids to make your phone conversations a little clearer? Actually, it doesn’t work precisely that way. In reality, while hearing aids can make face-to-face conversations a lot easier to handle, there are some difficulties associated with phone-based conversations. But there are definitely a few things you can do to make your phone calls more successful.
Phone calls and hearing aids don’t always work effectively together – here’s why
Hearing loss generally isn’t sudden. Your hearing typically doesn’t just go. You have a tendency to lose bits and pieces over time. This can make it hard to even detect when you have hearing loss, particularly because your brain tries very hard to fill in the gaps with contextual clues and other visual information.
So when you get on the phone, all of that contextual info is gone. There’s no extra information for your brain to work with. You only hear parts and pieces of the other person’s voice which sounds muffled and distorted.
Hearing aids can be helpful – here’s how
This can be improved by wearing hearing aids. Lots of those missing pieces can be filled in with hearing aids. But there are a few distinctive accessibility and communication troubles that happen from wearing hearing aids while talking on the phone.
For instance, placing your hearing aids close to a phone speaker can produce some harsh speaker-to-speaker interference. This can lead to some uncomfortable gaps in conversation because you can’t hear very well.
Improving your ability to hear phone conversations
So, what can you do to overcome the challenges of using a phone with hearing aids? Most hearing specialists will endorse several tips:
- You can use your Bluetooth function on your hearing aid to stream to your phone. Hold on, can hearing aids connect to smartphones? Yes, they can! This means you’ll be capable of streaming phone calls directly to your hearing aids (if your hearing aids are Bluetooth enabled). If you’re having difficulty using your phone with your hearing aid, a good place to begin reducing feedback would be switching to Bluetooth.
- Utilize video apps: Face-timing someone or hopping onto a video chat can be a great way to help you hear better. The sound won’t be louder or more clear, but at least you’ll have that visual information back. And again, this kind of contextual information will be considerably helpful.
- Try utilizing speakerphone to carry out the majority of your phone calls: 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 hold the phone better with hearing aids (that is, away from your ears) is crucial, and speakerphone is how you accomplish this!
- Try to take your phone calls in a quiet spot. It will be much easier to hear the voice on the other end if there’s less noise. Your hearing aids will be much more efficient by decreasing background noise.
- Be truthful with the individual you’re talking to on the phone: If phone calls are hard for you, it’s okay to admit that! Many individuals will be fine switching the discussion to text message or email or video calls (or simply being a little extra patient).
- Hearing aids aren’t the only assistive hearing device you can use: There are other assistive devices and services that can help you hear better when you’re having a phone conversation (and this includes many text-to-type services).
Finding the correct set of solutions will depend on what you use the phone for, how often you’re on the phone, and what your overall communication requirements are like. With the correct approach, you’ll have the resources you require to begin enjoying those phone conversations once again.
If you need more guidance on how to use hearing aids with your phone, call us, we can help.