Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others

@tardi400 Hi, Marylou.
It must be very frustrating to not be able to converse well on the phone. Have you looked into a Caption Call phone? It's not an amplifier but it does provide captions to the call you are on. They are free for hearing impaired people, paid for by a state agency. I think that is true in all states. I used to use mine a lot but now I rely more on my cell phone.
It sounds as if you are not relying on HAs at all. If you were I would suggest Bluetooth ones that connect to an iPhone. I have Oticons and I can hear conversations very much better with my cell phone than I can with my landline.
I hope you are able to find some help for your situation. In these days of isolation, it must be even more difficult to not have the connection that a phone provides. If you do find a good solution I hope you will share it with us.
JK

Hi Marylou,
I had heard about how good the hearing aids are from Costco. They sell well known brands at a much reduced price. I was reluctant to go to Costco because I have always gone to an audiologist. I called our city's branch of a national group of advocates for the hearing impaired and asked if Costco was a reputable place to buy aids. The Director whom I spoke with told me Costco is where he buys his. Since then I have purchased hearing aids from Costco twice. And both times I was very pleased. The audiologist there will tell you if you are a candidate for ear molds. You probably will not have to pay for this kind of assessment. You may want to take any reports that you have from the ear, nose and throat doctor who provided you with his assessment. The hearing aids I have give me the ability to hook into my TV through my iPhone. The quality I get from these devices is very good. I am hearing impaired and have been so since I was a child. Now in my old age I am profoundly hearing impaired...One other thing...Costco does free check-ups and adjustments to the hearing aids provided by them and the aids they sell are about half the price you would pay through an independent audiologist. Good luck. VM

Thank you for your input. Hearing aids are just as expensive as printing ink for your printer. Good to know Costco's service is reliable and affordable. Thanks again.

Agree on Costco. On my 3rd pair. the batteries are a fraction of what you pay in a drug store. About $8-9 for 48. Service is great at any Costco.

I went to costco. The man tried to fit me, but they wouldn't stay in. He ended up getting angry with me!

A land line

That’s an aberration. Most people find Costco audiologists well informed and sympathetic. It’s really too bad you encountered that. Don’t give on hearing aids.

Marylou, it looks like you answered this in a different area. You say you have a landline. There are some good solutions. You mention that you have SOME hearing loss. You may want to see if an inline telephone amplifier is sufficient. Here is one such model that is made by Clarity: https://clarityproducts.com/ha40/
To use it, you unplug the cord from the base unit of the phone and plug in the amplifier. You then plug the cord that you disconnected above into the amplifier. The picture in the link shows it better than I could explain. You may want to check the return policy before making a purchase just in case it doesn't amplify enough. If you need more amplification, Clarity makes many models of phones depending on the features and amplification you desire. You can see them on the clarity website. If you want to see the words of the person speaking, consider a captioned phone. CaptionCall.com and CapTel.com are the most popular and they are free as long as your hearing loss is documented (may need an audiologist to sign paperwork). You may want to look at both of those websites to see if that product interests you.
Tony in Michigan

Thank you so much. I will look up Clarity at Amazon. I'll also see if I can get a letter from my doctor certifying my hearing loss. Thank you very much for your help.
Mary Lou in Chgo.

@tardi400 I have never used Costco but people I know who have, have been very satisfied with them. Please don't let one poor representative of their service turn you away from them.
JK