Hearing Assistive Technology - What do you find helpful?

If you have phone jacks in your house and can use a captioned phone like Captel that transcribes voicemail. Captel is free if your audiologist orders it and I have them on both floors of our house. They are terrific and make the world of difference to catch odd but operative words I otherwise might have missed.
And with my cell phone which I use much less I have an app that captions calls but I don't think that works with voicemail on the cell phone.

@awilst and @barbarat

Innocaption+ which is the app I use on my cellphone DOES have visual voice mail. A separate number is not needed when you sign up . You can receive voice calls to your cell phone and have it automatically forwarded to your Innocaption app. You can save as many messages that you want and reread the voice mail and also the conversations when you want. You can choose to have a live caption Operator or Automatic captioning. I chose both so if a live operator is not available it will automatically switch to automatic mode(ASR)

I also have a Captel and need the Toil in my aid to hear the voice. I don’t use it much as I like Innocaption better.
The Florida free Captel is the original model and not very good and has limited options. The newer versions have visual voice mail and are inexpensive to buy online.

I use my phone app 99% percent of the time.
Two other apps for live captioning when you can’t understand in person are Live Transcribe for Androids and Otter for iPhones and Androids.. Otter has a limited free version and is more accurate then Live Transcribe.
I use both especially with mask wearing.

FL Mary

I installed Innocaption app on my Iphone and it really works great. I heard about it here in a discussion group. I also installed Otter which I can use in meetings. I find this group so helpful with information.

Captioned phones can be so helpful to people who don't hear well on the phone. In most states they are provided free or at low cost to those who need them.

They are made and serviced by CapTel, CaptionCall, & Clear Captions. Information is available on the internet about each, along with the parameters for getting one. I am not sure, but believe at least one of these companies now has a cell phone option.

Several speech to text apps have been mentioned in this conversation. Otter, Live Transcribe, Innocaption, etc.

As always, I recommend connecting with an HLAA chapter in your area for more information on these relatively new technologies. It helps so much to talk to people who use these technologies in person. HLAA brings hard of hearing people together to learn and share their experiences.

Some who respond to MCC discussions are actively involved in HLAA. The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) has revolutionized so may options related to living WELL hearing loss since its founding in 1979. http://www.hearingloss.org for more information.

I have phonak hearing aids and yes, if I’m connected to the tv others can still hear.

I previously mentioned aftershokz, bone conduction listening headset for phones and music. I did talk to an ear, nose, and throat doctor, and thought I would follow up. He recommends them to his patients that wear hearing aids because they do not go inside the ear. He also recommends them for safety as you can hear all the ambient noise outside the headset. He does mention of course that volume control is important in all things.

I had used aftershokz for awhile until I got the hearing aids that stream to my phone. Now I just use the hearing aids as my headphones. But the aftershokz are great for those that have hearing aids that don't stream and I highly recommend them.

The problem with me is different. I have a total unilateral hearing loss since birth and no doctor has been able to come up with any solution yet. I want to ask that does the hearing aid act like a volume controller? Will it work for my total hearing loss in the left ear?

You have had unilateral hearing loss since birth. You have been to doctors. Has a doctor ever suggested you try hearing aids? If not, I'm wondering why.

Hearing aids do control volume. I always advise people to make sure hearing aids they buy have a manual volume control so you can determine the volume. Some have auto controls, which sounds more modern and wonderful. It isn't.

Again, what have you tried?

Hello,

So glad to have found this site. Hearing loss in both ears. Wear OTICON Opn 1 mini rite hearing aids but don’t like wearing all of the time. Purchased and upgraded my Apple IPad and IPhone for Accessibility features (vision and hearing impairment). Have blue tooth etc. Find sounds and haptics…ringertone nice and loud but text tone, new mail, messages etc too quiet for me to hear and under Accessibility……the alerts for smoke, fire etc too quiet as well. I don’t understand why those settings set to be less loud….have contacted APPLE many times. Any deals how to make those sounds louder….? connecting speaker system, apps? So frustrated!