Sounding Board

Can't seem to manage on the phone

Enquiry: I have an AB harmony CI. Although my hearing does v well on testing I really struggle with the telephone, much to the surprise of my medical staff. I have 4 different amplified plug in phones and none of them is much use. So it's no use phoning me.

I really need to be asking other CI users for their experiences. What I'm wondering is whether I'm using over amplified phones as vibrations seem to mess up my hearing with the CI. Or is it because I use the AB in ear mike?

Reply Being able to use the telephone is a goal for many with a cochlear implant. Unfortunately listening on a telephone is always more difficult, even for people with good hearing. There are several issues to consider: Firstly there is the phone itself, then the way you connect to the phone and thirdly practising the skills involved.
First the phone itself. You say you have tried four different land phones without success so there would seem little point in trying others unless anybody has a good idea about a particular phone you could try. Listening is usually more difficult through a mobile phone so that is not the answer either. You may want to check out the following websites to look at possible phones for the deaf: RNID shop , Connevans shop , Nokia accessibility
You say that you are using the in ear microphone (the T mic). Have you thought about using the T coil which is an integral part of the Harmony. You will need to ensure that you have a programme set up to use the T coil with. Once you’ve done that you need a phone with a T coil facility, see above, and then you just switch to the appropriate program when you are using the phone.
Another option is blue tooth. You can use blue tooth with both land phones and mobile phones. Go to the Bluetooth section of Sounding Board to find out more about this. Many implant wearers find this method of listening to be very good.
Thirdly, you may need to spend some time practising listening on the phone to help you develop your listening skills while using the telephone. If you can find a friend who will help you, that would be ideal. The best thing is to start having a conversation about something very familiar where you both know more or less what you will be saying. As your confidence increases, you will find that you can move on to more difficult conversations. Any practice in listening on line will also help. One such site would be The Listening Room but there are many others. See the list or recommended sites on Sounding Board.

Posted on March 9, 2010 15:40