Best assistive hearing technology for workplace

Posted by mishmish8 @mishmish8, Jun 8, 2022

I'm applying for accomodations so that I can fund live transcription for meetings, large group settings. Looking for high quality options. I've heard of Otter, and I'm wondering what folks know about Rev because apparently that's been used by others at my work. Any experience and advice about live transcription or any other assistive technology is appreciated. I have bilateral moderate to severe loss and wear hearing aids

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@mishmish8, great question. I wonder if responses differ for the workplace than answers provided in this related discussion started by @julieo4
- Hearing Assistive Technology - What do you find helpful? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/hearing-assistive-technology-what-do-you-find-helpful/

I also posted this question a while back. Some of the response here may be helpful for you too.
- Hearing loss: What do event planners need to know? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/hearing-loss-what-do-event-planners-need-to-know/

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@mishmish8 I'm unfamilar with Rev. Otter and Live Transcribe both work well for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). If funding is available, the best possible type of captioning is CART (Computer Assisted Realtime Translation), which is done by a stenographer. A good stenographer can do this verbatim. Verbatim doesn't happen with the apps mentioned above. They misunderstand accents, unusual words, etc.

There is some information at this link: https://www.hearingloss.org/hearing-help/technology/cartcaptioning/ that might be helpful to you.

Another excellent means of providing access is with assistive technology that sends the desired speech signal directly to your hearing aids. That would include hearing loops, FM technology and infrared technology. There are BlueTooth microphones that can be worn by a speaker that will send speech directly to your hearing aids too. A lot depends on what your hearing aids are equipped with. Telecoils are a must for Loops, FM and IR.

You'll find more information on the HLAA website; http://www.hearingloss.org about legal entitlements in the workplace.

Do you have telephone access that works for you?

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I have a caption phone and an Edumike. The Caption Phone was free. My employer supplied the Edumike. I also wear bilateral hearing aids.

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@carlf

I have a caption phone and an Edumike. The Caption Phone was free. My employer supplied the Edumike. I also wear bilateral hearing aids.

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Are you using BlueTooth and/or telecoil connections to external devices?

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@carlf

I have a caption phone and an Edumike. The Caption Phone was free. My employer supplied the Edumike. I also wear bilateral hearing aids.

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Piling on here. I agree with Julie completely. Cart can be almost miraculous. At my workplace, we had LOTS of jargon and many colleagues from different countries, so I'd have email or text exchanges with the caption providers prior to some meetings, to give them words and names. It was really helpful in getting the most accurate captions.
Also, which assistive device is most helpful is situational. At a conferenc, Cart is great when there's a speaker, but hopeless in a meet-and-greet. For that, given today's technology, I'd go with a Roger On or Roger Select. That enables you to use the device in "interview mode", so it's immensely flexible (in addition to doing a great job of getting voices to your ears/brain.) The Roger devices are expensive, and you might need extra gear like a specialized neckloop if you don't have the correct model of Phonak HA. Hence a dynamite request to give to your employer or ask for a cost sharing.
After that, because it's your work and good communication is essential, trying to re-train yourself to no longer guess or bluff. That was tough for me, I've been hard of hearing for a loooong time, and guessing words for most of that time. But at work, it's often too important to get it right, rather than fast.
Best wishes on your journey!!

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I have recently become aware of the Roger On and would like to find out more about it. Is it compatible with a
Resound HA and/or multimic?

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