Hearing loss: What do event planners need to know?

Thanks for confirming what I'd already learned, maryjax! We have phone service here, but I need to find a way to amplify it or make it work with my aid, hence the appt. with an audiologist supposedly aware of the "no cell" problem. And, yes, I could get a TTY phone for my office, but I don't know if that would be compatible with the long-range phone system we have, which enables me to be a distance from the house with one of the handsets and get a call from my husband inside if he has a problem. I hate to lose that, as I'd have to keep coming back to the house to see if he's okay.

Joyces, I think I understand what you've got. You have a landline phone connected to the modem provided by your cable company. The telephone that is connected to the modem is a cordless remote system. You carry the remote phone when you're near the house but you need to amplify the sound from it. There are several options. If you have a telecoil in your hearing aids, then you may not need anything other than to switch the telecoil on when using the phone. There are landline phones that will allow you to get those calls transferred to a cellphone. One thing that helps people with hearing loss is being able to hear the phone with both ears instead of the ear where the handset is placed. This is why speaker phone helps. So, if your hearing aids have a telecoil already, make sure the audiologist enables them. This may solve your problem without having to buy a new phone. You can review phone options at HARC (www.harc.com) or Harris Communications (www.harriscomm.com).

A lot of states are giving free captioned phones - Pa is one

@bookysue Is that state funded? I thought it was federal. I too have one. I live in NH and it is not known for being oriented toward the individual, whether employee, or anything else.
JK

tonyinmi, yes, you're correct...I have a landline phone system connected to a cable modem. It's a special system that allows calls or intercom between handsets hundreds of feet from the base. My husband, who's unable to walk outside or any distance, can call me while I'm working outside. I know that I can set my cell phone to stream sound into my aided ear (I only hear on one side), but I don't know how to do that with our phone system. Another item to add to my list of questions for the audiologist! Thanks for the links, also! I managed to get by for years after Meniere's moved into my right ear--my "good" ear was only affected by increasing age-related deafness. Then, a year ago, Meniere's went bilateral, further compromising my "good" ear. I bought an aid at that point. May 24, at 6:45, the Meniere's monster returned in full force, right in the middle of a speech I was watching. Because my Meniere's is triggered by low hormone levels, I was able to reverse some of the loss by temporarily increasing HRT. Now, I have good days where I can hear a fair amount with the aid in my right ear...and bad days where the world's a mystery. Hearing loss caused by Meniere's fluctuates, with serious distortion and recruitment on really bad days. On bad days, I often cannot stand to wear the aid, due to recruitment, which makes sudden sounds slice through my head like a knife. Fortunately, perhaps due to daily VRT, I haven't experienced the balance/vertigo/puking problems since I've gone bilateral.

Check to see if you state has the '711' coverage - which is the amplified telephones. This is a federal law that covers telephones for the hard of hearing people. Each state has some type of program that covers these phones. Additionally, there are states that also cover the captioning phones that are provided through service providers and are provided free to people who qualify by their audiograms/audiologist testing. Check your state's office for deaf/hard of hearing or Office of health services for detail on what is available for you in your state. If there are limitations on the types of accessibility or accommodations that could/should be available for you, then this is the time to bring it to your State/Federal Representatives attention. Check the states that have these available for their constituents like in New Mexico, New York and WI.... and many other states. Check the HLAA website for directions on how you can advocate for yourself in requesting this and other great information for those with hearing loss. https://www.hearingloss.org/hearing-help/financial-assistance/state-telephone-programs/

I actually switched from an IPhone to a Samsung Android (read: $$$$) in order to use Live Transcribe for a technical group of 15-20 I was participating in at the time. However, I found that looking at my phone to see what HAD been said meant that I was always behind the rest of the group. Worse, if the words that appeared on my phone didn't make good sense, the discussion had moved on: it was too late to ask for clarification. The problem increased when the speaker was at the whiteboard, writing things to highlight what he/she was saying, as my phone was a couple of thoughts behind. I finally found Live Transcribe so confusing that I went back to puzzling out what was being said. That way, I could occasionally contribute to the conversation. Again, our subject was always very technical, with tech terms that Live Transcribe bungled (understandably), meaning that I had to "translate" what I was seeing almost as much as I need to "translate" what I think I hear. I tried a clip-on mic for speakers, but it doesn't work well in a fair-sized group.

I have the same problem with TV captions on live shows: they're a minute or two behind and sometimes I hear a later sentence that gets my attention, leaving me royally confused. And, like Live Transcribe, the captions often fail miserably when there are tech terms or proper names. Also, the person being shown is often not the person who said whatever is appearing in captions. After decades of relying on speech reading, that is also confusing. I usually rely on watching and listening to the speaker and only using captions to clarify points I missed--but sometimes the captions miss the same points!

For conversations with friends/relatives, I do best by paying attention (speech reading) and guessing to fill in the blanks. Most chats don't have detailed information that must be understood. I know, of course, that it's extremely annoying and interruptive to ask someone to clarify; often ensuing additions by others will clear up confusion about a certain word or words. I think I learned lots about what we now refer to as "speech reading" because both my father was profoundly deaf, mother HOH (deaf in one ear). Interestingly, in spite of the primitive state of aids while Dad was alive, he understood more than Mom, who expected others to position themselves so that she could hear (rather than doing that herself). It isn't the degree of deafness as much as willingness of the HOH person to pay attention. Because of my mother, I'm very careful to position myself in order to hear/understand as much as possible.

Much of the help will depend on the type of event you are planning. If it's an event with a speaker or presentation it would help to have an assistive listening systems installed. That, of course, depends on the room and technology available. Hearing loops are the preferred technology by people who know what they need. However, FM and Infrared systems can also be helpful in that type of setting.

If it's a social event, it helps if the individual with the hearing loss knows what s/he needs, and uses personal devices that go beyond hearing aids. A PocketTalker, a Roger Pen, a BlueTooth streamer, a hand held microphone, etc. can be extremely helpful in noisy social settings. But, the person with HL has to have them and use them.

Unfortunately, many people with HL are unaware of the devices that help keep them in the hearing mainstream. The reason....people who sell hearing aids don't tell them about them. And if/when they do, the person with HL doesn't want to use them because they are visible. Or they don't want to buy them because they are expensive.

CART (computer assisted realtime transliteration) may be helpful in a presentation setting. That service is provided by a court reporter with certification in CART. It's wonderful in an educational setting. Automatic Speech to Test (ASR) is available on cell phones. There are several apps that can provide that. It takes patience and skill from the user to make that work well because it means looking at a screen rather than at the speaker. Most folks with HL do depend on lip reading, so this can be both a help and a hinder. While mentioning lipreading, I must mention that masks being worn on a speakers face creates a horrible barrier for a person with HL. This was always a concern in medical settings, but with COVID protocols now it's a much bigger problem. I have personally chosen not to attend meetings when masks are required.

In a social setting it helps when others have the patience to repeat something when asked. Telling the HH person that 'it wasn't important' merely tells them that they are not important. This happens all the time. The person saying it isn't being mean. It just feels that way to the HH person.

One other thing worth mentioning is planning events in acoustically sound areas helps a lot. Hard floors, walls, high ceilings, etc. create reverberation that makes it difficult for everyone to hear. Plan your event in a favorable environment for everyone.

If possible, again for a presentation type event, provide written handouts.

Be kind, and understand that a person with HL has a natural lag time when asked a question in a noisy environment. Also, that they expend three times as much energy than a normal hearing person does when in that kind of setting, so may be inclined to leave early due to auditory fatigue. Eliminate all the background noise possible. Background music is a big problem. Using a PA system is a must.

Not sure how much more I can say in a few paragraphs. Just know that it's very special that you have asked this question and want to accommodate the HH crowd. There are many of us out there. 🙂

HLAA has a lot of information about hearing assistive technology. http://www.hearingloss.org