Creative Use of Assisted Listening Devices

I loved the HLAA Webinar with Esther Kelly.  She did a fabulous job of introducing a variety of assisted listening devices and explaining how they can be used in the workplace.  If you missed it, you can read the transcript or watch the webinar on the HLAA website.  Most of the products Esther mentioned, I sell on my website.  Click on the devices below for more details.

She gave examples of some creative solutions to specific workplace problems:

Comfort Contego Wireless FM System
You can connect the transmitter to your telephone using an adapter from Radio Shack #43-1237 and listen to the phone with the FM receiver.

Pocketalker with Neckloop
A waiter put the Pocketalker in his apron.  Background noise was muted and the microphone was at the level of his customers!

Loop Amplifier and Pad
She placed the pad on her chair and the loop amplifier on her desk.  Using the same Radio Shack adapter,  hooked her telephone to it and could hear the phone via her t-coils (She still had to speak into the phone, but if she had a speaker phone she would be completely hands free!)

Wireless Doorbell with Flashing Strobe Receiver
A patient in a hospital would buzz the nursing station but couldn’t hear them respond.  They put the doorbell (signaler) at the nurses station and when she called them they pressed the doorbell which activated the flashing light/receiver in her room.  That way she at least new someone would respond as soon as possible.

ClearSounds Quattro Bluetooth Neckloop and QLink Transmitter
Can be used with TV, cell phone, land line, computer and more!

ClearSounds Amplified Neckloop
This comes with so many adapters it will work with just about anything.  Built in microphone allows for hands free telephone use.  It has a headphone jack so can be used by people who do not have a t-coil.

If you are struggling to hear in a work situation, there are a lot of products out there to help you.  Just need to think outside the box!

Technology in the Workplace Webinar

The next HLAA webinar will be Thursday (tomorrow), at 4:00 PST by Ester Kelly on “Technology in the Workplace.”

Do you use walkie-talkies or two-way radios at work or answer multi-line telephones? If so, you know how hard it can be with hearing loss. Learn “outside of the box” solutions to these and many other workplace difficulties for people with hearing loss. Esther Kelly will cover up to ten workplace situations and offer solutions and ways to overcome difficulties using technology in the workplace; including creative ways to use FM systems to interact with co-workers and students.

The webinars are free, but you must pre-register.  Register here.

HLAA Message Boards/Chat Rooms

HLAA has a HUGE forum for discussion on their website in the Message Boards and Chat Rooms section where you can connect with other people with hearing loss.  This online community is designed to “…. give you support, ideas, new friendships, advocate when needed and so much more.  You don’t have to walk through life with hearing loss alone, join us!”

There are literally hundreds of topics related to hearing loss and even some “off topic” chats.

I like the “Laughter is the Best Medicine” section.  Here’s a good one from there:

A woman thought her husband was losing his hearing but was too proud to admit it. One day, as he was on his recliner watching the ballgame, she walked away to the farthest room of the house and said, “Ed, can you hear me?”
Getting no reply, she moved a room closer to him and again asked, “Ed, can you hear me?” and was stunned when he didn’t answer at all.
Deciding to “go big or go home”, she walked right up to the back of his recliner and said, “Ed, can you hear me?”
Ed answered, “For the THIRD time, YES!!!!”

LOL!  🙂

Visit it at www.myhearingloss.org