What are your favorite apps for hearing loss or tools you use?

The older Pocket Talkers are black & shamped about like a pack of cigarettes, and , the most recent model is white and is elongated.

One important piece of information about the older Pocketalker Ultra, is that the headphone output is mono. if you attach stereo headphones to the older models, sounds only make it to one ear. You have to use a stereo to mono adapter with stereo headphones for the sound to make it to both ears. Of course, you can still find mono headphones so that an adapter is not needed. People think there is a problem with the Pocketalker when they plug in stereo headphones after replacing the original mono headphones that came with the unit.
Another important difference between the old and new Pocketalker is that the old model did not pick up a loop signal whereas the new model will pick up a loop signal.
Tony in Michigan

Thank you Julie, all helpful!

Well, I'd like to speak up for the ability to blend in with all the people in the room. Call me shallow, call me vain, call me in denial, but let's be clear that calling it anything is judging, which I don't think anyone gets to do. On top of judging, it's inaccurate to characterize it as denial. What is bad about not wanting to be treated differently unless I ask to to be? The device does not get to announce my hearing disability to all who see me, and no one gets to assume what I need or want. I control the message. It will be me, not the device, who says, sorry, I can't hear you, can we move away from this noise, will you please speak up. That is my choice. No one, and no device, gets to take that away from me.

Think of it this way, would you consider it vain, or denial, for those who have undergone chemotherapy to wear a wig in public? To be sure, some people choose to forgo the wig, and they get to do that if they like, but those who would rather wear a wig, do we call that denial? I think not. It's hard enough for anyone with disabilities, health conditions, etc. to make their way in the world, who are we to say, do it this way or that way?

People have a range of responses in deciding how they present themselves in public. We respect their choices. It is not for us to disparage them if we have chosen a different way.

We all face choices, challenges and changes when disability or illness unexpectedly enters our lives. How we choose to handle things has a lot to do with how other people relate to us. People who help themselves are more likely to be helped by others. No one says 'go public with whatever it is about you that makes you different or unique'. That is your choice alone.

I really am convinced that wearing an aid, especially if it's somewhat visible, is helpful when asking people to repeat or speak more clearly or loudly. Sometimes, just pointing the aid (if the person speaking is aware that you use one) is enough to remind them that you don't hear as well as the norms in the world hear. Wearing glasses isn't thought of as a "disability," even though some glasses wearers are nearly blind without them. One of my fellow volunteers, a mere child of 50, had put off getting glasses; today she was wearing a brand-new pair and being obvious about it because now she can see things she's been missing for years. There are so many younger folks who have hearing problems that I don't understand why some people seem to feel hearing aids or CIs brand the person as "old." Shoot, if you fail to notice the wrinkles I've earned from being outdoors for decades and my gray hair, should I stress over the somewhat visible aid? I say somewhat because it depends on whether or not I've taken the time to curl my hair and wear it down instead of pulled back so that I don't need to deal with it. <g> For someone who never uses makeup, five minutes spent on my hair is a really big deal, so most of the time my aid is visible.

Exactly - coloring hair or doing anything to look 'younger' because everyone expects you to blend into the crowd only makes it harder and stressful for me and those who must and would like to conform to the 'status quo.' But I rejected that years ago when money was tight, my hair was falling out and I couldn't hear. I needed to change and not those who were around me. If they noticed a change - then so be it. I had a response that stated the obvious. I wasn't getting old just wise. I inherited my dad's genes for turning brown hair into white hair. I lost my hearing when I was born only I didn't know it at the time because they didn't check for it in the 50's when I was growing up in the farm lands of Missouri. We learn through trial and error and steps of life. Doors open and close throughout life. Phases of life allow us to use that wisdom and pass it along. That is what we are to do in life here but it seems history repeats itself without always learning about what it should be learning and doing correctly.

Thank you for that information. I didn’t know you could use an adapter to give the mono a stereo sound. I used to think there was a problem with the Pocketalker when I first received it

@ner I completely understand and agree. I think we all deserve dignity and I am also especially interested in technology I can use to my advantage that doesn't necessarily call out my disability, I like to have control over that!

I have been playing around with an app called otter voice when I am in a really loud setting. It's for use on apple phones and free if I keep it to less than 600 minutes a month. It was really helpful with my family at a loud restaurant, and worked pretty well to help me catch some of what I was missing in the background noise. It's interesting to me that it's made for meeting notetaking and not necessarily for HOH. I have heard a lot about the Live Transcribe app but I do not have an Android phone and that one is only for Android.