Hearing Aid Phones

There is no time more frustrating for many hearing impaired patients than talking on the phone. Hearing aids at times may not seem to capture all the words that are being spoken, and while you may try your best to clamp your ear to the handset, the result is an ear that is aching from the pressure of the hearing aid as well as the handset being pressed against it. Due to complaints such as these, a veritable smorgasbord of hearing aid phone devices has flooded the market. There are hearing aid compatible cell phones, hearing aid compatible phones that operate via a landline, and special accessories that promise to turn any kind of phone into hearing aid phones! If you have ever wondered if these devices really work, are necessary, or maybe should just be considered fads, read on!

Quite possibly the cheapest solution to the hearing aid phones question are the foam ear pads that may be attached to the phone receiver. Made from soft foam and featuring a self adherent strip of glue, they attach to the earpiece of a landline phone and may be replaced as desired. The thought behind this kind of hearing aid phones adapter is the notion that background noises can be eliminated or at least muted if the ear and the earpiece can be connected in such a way as to form a better seal. Those who wear ITC or ITE aids may find that there is some benefit to this little seal, but by and large the claims that these little cushions will turn any phone into a hearing aid compatible phone, is widely overstated. Similarly, the claim that all noise is being drowned out, making them better than the best cell phones for hearing aids is widely overrated.

Generally speaking, a hearing aid compatible cell phone is not as worried about allowing you to capture all sounds as it is about not giving off any kind of interference itself. This interference is generated by most all digital phones, baby monitors and anything else that relies on frequencies for sound, but this makes it hard to find phones to use with hearing aids. While cell phone manufacturers would be wise to keep this in consideration as they are designing their latest models, it is shocking to note that there are only about two fourths of hearing aid compatible cellular phones among the models currently for sale.

When looking for the best Sprint phone for hearing aid users or even just any manufacturer’s hearing aids compatible cell phone, look for the little icon that combines a cell phone, hearing aid, and M4 or T3 notation and you will have found a hearing aid rated cell phone. While a Sprint phone - hearing aid users are quick to point out – might be the best phone, Sprint customers with hearing aids acknowledge that hearing aid compatible phones are made by many different manufacturers, and it is the hearing aid phones rating that differentiates cell phones and hearing aid compatible cordless phones from phones hearing aid wearers will not be able to use.