December 11, 2009 Issue

               HEARING LOSS HELP E-zine
"The premier e-zine for people with hearing loss"

Volume 4, Number 7              December 11, 2009
Publisher: Neil Bauman      neil@hearinglosshelp.com
            http://www.hearinglosshelp.com
    Copyright Center for Hearing Loss Help 2009

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                      "Hearing loss may change your life,
                        but your life need not be any less
                                rewarding and fulfilling
                        because you have a hearing loss."

                                                              — Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

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Please recommend and/or forward this issue of Hearing Loss Help e-zine to at least one of your hard of hearing friends, or to anyone you know that is interested in successfully living with their hearing loss. We just ask that you keep this e-zine intact and only forward it in its entirety.
 

================================================== In this issue ==================================================
 

1. News Items

— Survey on Quality of Life of Hard of Hearing Children in the USA
— Consumer Action Guide on Air Travel
— Hair Cell Research—Some Unexpected Results
— Generic Prescription Drug Pronunciation Guide

2. Beware of (Ototoxic) Drugs That Can Damage Your Ears

— Can Swine Flu Shots Cause Sudden Hearing Loss?
— Aleve (Naproxen) Can Cause Both Hearing Loss and Tinnitus
— Can Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) Cause Tinnitus?

3. Answers to Your Questions

— How Does Taking Out the Adenoids in Children Improve Their Hearing?
— Hearing Loss Following Strenuous Exercise

4. Tinnitus & Other Phantom Sounds

— Tinnitus Resulting from Using the Phone—What's Going On?

5. Effective Coping Strategies

— Role Models for Hard of Hearing and Deaf People

6. Information on Hearing Aids, Cochlear Implants and/or Assistive
    Devices

— Becoming Friends with Your New Hearing Aids
— Haggle Over the Price of Your Next Hearing Aids
— Prevent Elderly People from Losing Their Hearing Aids
— The Ideal Cell Phone for Hard of Hearing People—Not Here Yet

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1. News Items
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Survey on Quality of Life of Hard of Hearing Children in the USA

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

Perhaps some of you might be interested in taking part in the below survey. Note: it is limited to children living in the USA. This survey comes from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. The study is looking for parents of children who are hard of hearing or deaf. Here's the blurb.

"My name is Nancy Hanauer and I'm a study recruiter with the University of Washington. Our university is conducting a Quality of Life Study for Children and Youth Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and we're hoping you'd be willing to share information about the study with the families in your program. We're looking for deaf and hard of hearing children and youth ages 5 to 18 and their parents for participation in the study (US residents only). Learn more about the study here."

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Having trouble hearing your iPod (or MP3 player) in true stereo?

If you wear hearing aids that have t-coils in them, the dual Music-Links will let you hear beautiful, clear, true-stereo sounds in both ears! Click here to learn more about the Music Links.

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Consumer Action Guide on Air Travel

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network (DHHCAN) has just released their new Consumer Action Guide on Air Travel.

This guide is based upon the recent update of the Air Carrier Access Act regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation in May 2009, during one of the most comprehensive overhauls since the Act was enacted in 1990.

The Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) sets out requirements for disability access at airports and on airlines. These ACAA rules give protection from discrimination by:

• Prohibiting U.S. and foreign airlines from discriminating against passengers on the basis of disability
   
• Requiring airlines to make aircraft, other facilities, and services accessible
   
• Requiring airlines to take steps to accommodate passengers with a disability

"Today's travelers need information from the minute they arrive at the departing airport until they leave the destination airport. It is crucial that they have prompt access to information once they self-identify that they are deaf, hard of hearing or deaf-blind," says Barbara Raimondo, author of the DHHCAN Air Travel Action Guide 2009 and a mother of two deaf children.

The DHHCAN Action Guide on Air Travel is available online both as a summary and as a full document. This 7 page report is easy to read. The first page is a summary of the full text on pages 2 to 7.

One of the nice things about this Act is that it applies not only to all US airlines, but to any airlines flying to or from US soil.

Source: TDI News Release November 13, 2009

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Hair Cell Research—Some Unexpected Results

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

Hard of hearing people are impatient for hair cell research to bring forth positive results so they can have their hearing restored to normal or near normal. That is their desire, but this reality is still far in the future.

In spite of all the advances that have been made in recent years, hair cell regeneration in humans is still at least 20 years away according to Dr. Douglas A. Cotanche, an Associate Professor in the Departments of Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery, and Anatomy & Neurobiology, at the Boston University School of Medicine in MA.

Dr. Cotanche explains, "We are still in the very early stages of developing techniques for inducing hair cell regeneration in damaged mouse and guinea pig ears. To date, we have not yet perfected a technique that leads to full, or even partial functional recovery in a damaged cochlea. We need to accomplish this before we can think of trying therapies in humans. I would project that a potential therapy will not be available for at least 20 years."

Before human trials can begin, according to Dr. Cotanche, "We would need to be able to show that the therapy did not somehow cause a reduction in the surviving hair cell population and lead to further hearing loss."

You see, some unexpected negative results have shown up in the animal research undertaken so far. As Dr. Cotanche explains, "We know that mammal cochlear hair cells will not regenerate on their own when the native hair cells are lost. But experimental models have shown that we can induce some levels of regeneration by stimulating genes that cause cells to divide. So we do see an initial burst of hair cell regeneration, but then the ear somehow senses that these new hair cells are not normal—that this should not happen—and eliminates these cells."

Dr. Cotanche continues, "Now we need to find a way to keep these newly regenerated hair cells in the mammal ear from dying off, and determining if they can regain function."

As a result, hair cell regeneration in humans is not just "around the corner". At present we need to use the hearing aids and cochlear implants that are available to us, and not wait for the possibility of hair cell regeneration to give us better hearing.

Although hair cell regeneration is still a long way in the future, Dr. Cotanche confidently asserts, "We're getting there slow but sure!"

To read the full November 9, 2009 chat transcript with Dr. Cotanche, point your browser to the Hearing Loss Association of America web page.

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Generic Prescription Drug Pronunciation Guide

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
 

As prescription drugs proliferate, so do their weird and seemingly unpronounceable names. New drug brand names are bad enough, but some of the newer generic drug names are real enigmas to pronounce.

For example, how do you pronounce drug names such as "Abciximab" or "Ixabepilone" or "Pioglitazone" or "Zafirlukast"? Is "Abciximab" pronounced as "aye-bee-cee-icks-mab" or what?

If you have a hearing loss, your chances of correctly hearing these names being pronounced by anyone is almost nil. That's the bad news.

Now for the good news. You don't have to try to come up with your own pronunciations and embarrass yourself in the process.

For your convenience (mine too), I have put up a web page that shows the proper pronunciations of more than 700 generic prescription drug names.

You can access it on the Center for Hearing Loss Help's website, then click on the third link down the left side: "Generic Drug Pronunciation Guide".

In case you are interested, you pronounce "Abciximab" as "ab-SIX-ih-mab". "Ixabepilone" is pronounced "ex-ah-BEH-pill-own". "Pioglitazone" comes out as "pie-oh-GLIT-ah-zohn" and "Zafirlukast" as "zah-FLUR-luh-kast".

This pronunciation guide is largely based on pronunciations given in the 2010 Nursing Drug Handbook.

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2. Beware of (Ototoxic) Drugs That Can Damage Your Ears
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Can Swine Flu Shots Cause Sudden Hearing Loss?

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
 

A firefighter wrote: "I am a 42 year old man. I was driving today at 10:00 AM and all of a sudden I felt like I was in a plane changing altitudes. I waited for my ears to pop like they usually do, but they didn't, and I realized quickly that I had a dramatic loss of hearing in my right ear. I tried to find a physician, but to no avail. At about 2:00 PM I went to an audiologist and she confirmed my fears that I had a dramatic sudden hearing loss in my right ear. I finally got to an ENT and she said that I should start on steroids right away. I am a firefighter and within the past week got the N1H1 (swine flu) vaccine. Could this be a possible cause?"

That was quite the unexpected experience, wasn't it? They don't call it sudden hearing loss for no reason!

If your hearing loss is thought to be caused by a virus, some doctors prescribe an antiviral drug such as Methotrexate (Rheumatrex) or Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) along with the steroid Prednisone. Sometimes these drugs work and sometimes they don't, but you might think it worth a try.

No one seems to mention it, but sudden hearing loss can and does occur in some people from taking viral vaccines. I have received two such reports in the past few years. One boy lost significant hearing after getting a flu shot, while a girl's hearing suddenly dropped 30 dB one week to the day after receiving her flu shot.

To be sure, these were not swine flu shots, but it seems that flu viruses can get into the inner ear and cause sudden hearing loss. I don't see why the swine flu should be any different.

I wouldn't be surprised if, in your case, the swine flu virus was the culprit, unless you have had a cold, other virus or flu in the past week or so.

To learn which drugs are (or can be) ototoxic, see "Ototoxic Drugs Exposed". This book contains information on the ototoxicity of 763 drugs, 30 herbs and 148 chemicals.

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Naproxen (Aleve) Can Cause Both Hearing Loss and Tinnitus

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
 

A lady wrote: "I came across your extremely informative articles on the Internet, and I wanted to ask you a question. I was recently prescribed Aleve 220 mg and Soma 250 mg for a neck injury. I was instructed to take the two pills together in the evening for 7 days. I took the pills together (1 Aleve and 1
Soma) for 2 evenings, and then stopped because my ear was ringing very loudly, and I feel a significant loss in my hearing on my left side.

I always have tinnitus in my left ear due to damaging my ear in college from listening to a Walkman radio. However, since I took these medications the ringing is much louder, and I feel that I cannot hear as well.

It has been one week since I stopped the medicines, and the increased tinnitus and hearing loss has persisted. Is this permanent damage to my hearing? I am really worried, and regret having taken these medicines in the first place."

The good news is that Carisprodol (Soma) is not known to cause tinnitus or hearing loss. So Soma is off the hook.

The bad news is that Naproxen (Aleve) is known to cause both hearing loss and tinnitus (and a bunch of other ototoxic side effects as well). In fact the "official" figures (which I think are much too low) indicate that Naproxen causes hearing disorders in up to 3% of the people taking it, and tinnitus in up to 9% of the people taking it. It looks like you are one of the "fortunate few".

It's hard to know whether the damage will be temporary or permanent. In one study 40% recovered their hearing and 60% had permanent hearing loss after taking Naproxen. Tinnitus results are mixed too. In some people it is permanent, and in others it goes away after some hours or days.

As a very rough rule of thumb, the level of hearing you have a month after stopping the Naproxen will likely be your new "normal" hearing level.

If you remain emotionally neutral to your tinnitus, and ignore it by focusing on other things, hopefully it will fade into the background as you habituate to it.

I hear from numbers of people who say much as you have said, "I am really worried and regret having taken these medicines in the first place."

The problem with any drug side effects is that you never know whether they will hit you or not, so you don't know which drugs you need to avoid. For myself, I don't take any drugs—not even an Aspirin. I use herbals and alternate medicine instead. That way, I never have to worry about ototoxic (or any other) side effects of drugs.

To learn which drugs are (or can be) ototoxic, see "Ototoxic Drugs Exposed". This book contains information on the ototoxicity of 763 drugs, 30 herbs and 148 chemicals.

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Having trouble hearing on your cell phone because of lack of volume or interference?

If you wear hearing aids that have t-coils in them, try the dual T-Links and hear beautiful, clear, interference-free sounds in both ears! Click here to learn more about the T-Links.

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Can Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) Cause Tinnitus?

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady asked: "Can HCTZ cause the constant roar I now hear in my ears?"

Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) is about the least ototoxic of all the diuretics. It is listed as sometimes causing dizziness or vertigo, but is not listed (as far as I have ever seen) as causing tinnitus.

However, one lady told me that whenever she takes HCTZ, her tinnitus gets louder. Thus, it could be the cause your constant roar (tinnitus) too.

Think back to when you started taking HCTZ. If you didn't have the loud roar before you began this drug, and your tinnitus started soon after (in the following 14 days or so), then this is strong circumstantial evidence that Hydrochlorothiazide is indeed causing your tinnitus.

To learn which drugs are (or can be) ototoxic, see "Ototoxic Drugs Exposed". This book contains information on the ototoxicity of 763 drugs, 30 herbs and 148 chemicals.

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3. Answers to Your Questions
===============================================
 

If you have a question, or if something has been puzzling you concerning your ears, email it to mailto:neil@hearinglosshelp.com and put "e-zine question" as the subject. Suitable questions will be answered here.

How Does Taking Out the Adenoids in Children Improve Their Hearing?

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man explained: "I am the father of a seven year old hard of hearing (moderate and profound) child. Recently he was diagnosed with enlarged adenoids and an Adenoidectomy was advised by the ENT. The Dr told me it would improve his hearing. My question is, in what way do adenoids affect hearing, and how will an Adenoidectomy help to improve his hearing?"

Good question. The adenoids are a part of the body's immune system in children. Therefore, it is generally not a good idea to take them out like they once did back in the 1950s because the child is then left with a somewhat weakened immune system. Incidentally, the adenoids naturally "disappear" as a child grows into a teen.

At times, the adenoids become enlarged from doing their jobs and "grabbing" any viruses that try to enter the child's body via his nose. This is not a bad thing—they are just doing their jobs and should be left alone in my opinion.

However, sometimes the adenoids become so big that they interfere with a child's breathing, or block the Eustachian tubes from draining properly. If this happens, doctors typically recommend taking them out. This procedure is called an Adenoidectomy. (Personally, I think you should strengthen the child's immune system so they shrink back to their normal size.)

When the adenoids become sufficiently enlarged, they can prevent the Eustachian tubes from working properly. The result is that fluid cannot drain from the middle ears. When that happens, the child often has chronic middle ear infections. These infections fill the middle ear up with a thick mucus-like fluid. Temporary hearing loss occurs because the 3 tiny bones in the middle ear can't vibrate freely in this "gunk". When the fluid eventually drains away and is replaced by air, the bones again vibrate freely and hearing returns.

When doctors remove the adenoids, they no longer block the Eustachian tubes so fluid can drain from the middle ears, thus hopefully not causing bouts of temporary hearing loss.

Doctors also typically take the adenoids out if a child has too many ear infections each year. However, removing the adenoids does nothing to reduce the number of ear infections a child has. That is why I believe you should strengthen the child's immune system in the first place, rather than removing the adenoids. The adenoids are really part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Now that you know what is going on, you can make an informed decision together with your doctor.

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Hearing Loss Following Strenuous Exercise

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
 

A mother explained: "My son has had a few bouts of tinnitus followed by a hearing drop in one ear. This always seems to be as a result of, or following, strenuous exercise. So far the ear has always recovered to its old level. I reported the last episode to my doctor who has now raised the question that it could be "labyrinthine hydrops." The drugs that he recommended we consider are Betahistine or Cinnarizine, but the side effects seem severe. Up until now, these episodes only occur when my son has congestion, and this has thrown even more questions into the pot! I'd appreciate your advice."

Strenuous exercise can raise the internal pressure in the head, just like a blow to the head can. If your son has large vestibular aqueduct syndrome (LVAS), this can cause hearing loss. This is nothing new. Actually, it doesn't even have to be exercise—any form of extreme straining can cause this in people with LVAS if they are susceptible. Fortunately, not all people with LVAS are susceptible to this.

It's great that his hearing comes back after each episode. Of course, there are no guarantees that his hearing will always return, but it seems you can go by your son's previous history—which is, it is a temporary hearing loss.

It could be labyrinthine hydrops or anything else, but if your son has LVAS, that would be the most likely cause. Maybe your doctor considers LVAS to be a form of labyrinthine hydrops?

Personally, I'd not take either Betahistine or Cinnarizine if I were in his shoes. To me, the solution is much simpler—just don't strain so much when exercising. He should be able to find the level below which this doesn't happen, and then limit himself to that much straining effort.

Incidentally, labyrinthine hydrops is an inner ear condition, whereas congestion is a middle ear condition.

If his hearing loss only occurs when he is congested, then it could be that the strenuous exercise is causing "gunk" (to use a fancy medical term), to clog up his Eustachian tubes and middle ears causing some degree of conductive hearing loss. When the gunk drains out, his hearing returns to normal. If this is the case, it has nothing whatsoever to do with LVAS.

One way to determine which is which is to go to an audiologist and have an audiogram done as soon as he loses some hearing from straining. If the audiogram shows only a sensorineural hearing loss, then it is LVAS (or another inner ear condition). If it shows a conductive loss, it is likely gunk in the middle ear or Eustachian tube. If he already has a sensorineural hearing loss from LVAS, and it is gunk in his middle ear, the audiogram should show an air-bone gap indicating the conductive component. Once you know what the audiogram shows, then you'll better know how to proceed.

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4. Tinnitus & Other Phantom Sounds
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Tinnitus Resulting from Using the Phone—What's Going On?

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man wrote: "I have mild to moderate hearing loss, bilateral tinnitus and some hyperacusis. There's no rhyme or reason to the hyperacusis. Some days it's stable and other days it gets worse. Likewise with my hearing loss—it fluctuates—sometimes in the morning I feel I can hear fine and after a busy day at work or home life, I feel cotton got into my ears and my hearing is worse at night as well as the tinnitus—like I used my ears to much during the day. That type of feeling.

My problem is what can I do about telephone use. It seems that whenever I talk on the phone my tinnitus gets worse after I hang up. I started using my cell phone with the speaker, so my ear is not against the phone itself. But it still increases the level of my tinnitus after the phone call.

This is baffling me because I really enjoy speaking with people, but now I cut my calls short for fear of the intensity of the tinnitus later on. I wish there was some solution for phone use. I think that my response is hyperacusis after using the phone.

Is there any solution to this, or do I just suffer with it? I am trying to protect my hearing. I have nerve damage and this close noise bothers it. Recovery usually takes a few hours back to the same level."

You are not alone in this. My tinnitus gets worse from using the phone too. I wonder if your problem is the same as mine.

Incidentally, I think you have recruitment rather than hyperacusis.

For me, the louder parts (spikes) of each syllable are too loud and cause my recruitment to kick in, which aggravates my tinnitus. However, if I turn down the volume so these spikes do not recruit (and aggravate my tinnitus), then I can't hear the softer parts of the syllables and thus don't understand what the person on the other end is saying. It's sort of a Catch-22 situation.

That is part of the problem. In addition, I need enormous amplification in order to hear the other person (I have an 80 dB loss right where our voices are pitched). Since the phone's side tone amplifies my own voice even more than the other person's voice, my voice in the handset is then much too loud for me. However, if I turn down the volume, then I can't hear the other person, and if I speak softer, the other person can't hear me. The result is that after talking on the phone for a while (and I often am on the phone for an hour or more at a time), my tinnitus is louder for 10 or 15 minutes after I hang up.

The obvious solution to this problem is to wear hearing aids that have their compression set such that no louder sounds can reach your recruitment threshold. Then, since no sounds will recruit, it won't aggravate your tinnitus. (At least, that's my theory.) The compression not only keeps the lid on the louder sounds, but at the same time, it increases the volume of the softer parts of speech so you can hear and understand the other person.

Since I don't like wearing my hearing aids for phone use (never have, but that's me), part of my solution was to get a binaural headset so both ears can hear at once. The advantage of hearing with both ears at the same time is that you can cut the volume in half and still understand the other person as well as before with one ear and twice the volume. By cutting down the volume, my own voice isn't as loud and thus much easier on my ears (which is a blessing). It's not the perfect answer, but is much, much better than before.

You can get this binaural advantage by wearing two hearing aids in t-coil mode and plug a neckloop (amplified or bluetooth) or T-links into your cell or landline phone. Then you can turn the volume down and yet still hear clearly since both ears are working together now. If you have the Oticon Epoq or Phonak Exelia (or equivalent) hearing aids with their remotes, you can use bluetooth phones and the sound will be piped into both your hearing aids automatically.

In summary, wearing two hearing aids with sufficient compression to control your recruitment would be the best solution to prevent your recruitment from kicking in and aggravating your tinnitus while on the phone (or anywhere else for that matter). Second best is to do what I do and wear a binaural headset. The wonderful binaural headset I use (for landline phones only) is found here.

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5.  Effective Coping Strategies
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Role Models for Hard of Hearing and Deaf People

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

Many hard of hearing people lack successful role models and mentors, so they buy into the hearing world's belief that hard of hearing people can't do many jobs, and are thus relegated to low paying menial jobs.

The truth is, hard of hearing people can do many, many jobs with proper accommodation. In actual fact, the sky's the limit for hard of hearing people, just like it is for hearing people. What you can do depends more on your talents, skills, training, education, drive, ability to get along with people, etc. far more than it does on your level of hearing.

For example, there are hard of hearing doctors, nurses, police officers, fire fighters, lawyers, accountants, machinists, race car drivers, baseball players, businessmen, scientists, technicians and audiologists.

Therefore, don't let the hearing world try to tell you that you can't do any of these things. You need to follow your dream and do what you have set your heart on. That's what I have done in my life. You can do it too.

Karen Putz (who now has a profound hearing loss) has put up a website of successful role models for deaf and hard of hearing people of all ages. The various stories highlight different successful hard of hearing and deaf people in the workforce. As you read them, you will be encouraged that since they have succeeded in the working world, you can follow your dreams too! You can read these inspiring stories here.

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If you are receiving this issue of Hearing Loss Help e-zine as a forward, you can sign up for your own subscription at http://www.hearinglosshelp.com, or send a blank email to hearingloss-158260@autocontactor.com. Hearing Loss Help e- zine doesn't cost you a cent!

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6. Information on Hearing Aids, Cochlear Implants and/or
     Assistive Devices
===============================================

Becoming Friends with Your New Hearing Aids

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

Audiologist Erin Newman, Au.D., is on the ball and goes the second mile to help her patients. She wrote, "A couple of years ago, while searching the Internet for articles I needed for an Au.D. course, I came across your wonderful article entitled: "Becoming Friends with Your New Hearing Aids." I photocopied it, and have given it to all my new hearing aid users ever since.

"Becoming Friends with Your New Hearing Aids" has made a huge difference in hearing aid users understanding and acceptance of their hearing aids' idiosyncrasies. Even though I always verbally explained these, having it written down in a concise, humorous, informative manner by a third party really brought it home for people.

One of my patients had purchased hearing aids a year before at the local hospital, only to return them for a refund in less than a week. I gave her your article to read after her hearing aid evaluation. When she returned two weeks later for the actual fitting, she said, "Wow, why didn't anyone ever explain this to me before? I would have probably given those other hearing aids more time!"

If you are a first time hearing aid wearer, or are considering getting a hearing aid, you need to read this article. It will help you successfully adjust to wearing your new hearing aids as the above story attests.

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Haggle Over the Price of Your Next Hearing Aids

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A short article in the November, 2009 issue of the AARP Bulletin recommends that you do what most people don't do—and that is, haggle over the price of your next hearing aids.

The worst that can happen is that they say no, but if they want your business, they may sweeten the deal, and you'll save some of your precious dollars as a result.

Apparently, only about 15% of shoppers in general ever ask for a discount, but the good news is that of those that do ask, close to half get a better price, according to this article. You may find that a bit of haggling gets you a better price on your next pair of hearing aids too. It's certainly worth a try.

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Prevent Elderly People from Losing Their Hearing Aids

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady explained: "I am a Social Service Director at a healthcare facility. I work with elderly people and continually run into the problem of resident's losing their hearing aids. I was curious as to whether there are any devices or adaptations that are being sold to secure hearing aids to clothes or glasses."

You bet. Mostly, they are used to keep small children from taking out and losing their hearing aids, but they work well for adults too.

One such commercial product is Ear Gear.

Another commercial product is Safe-N-Sound.

There are also "Huggie Aids", "Critter Clips" and "Kids Clips".

This Listen Up website page has a bunch more useful ideas you might want to consider. Just scroll down to the section starting with the "green dot".

Now you have a number of solutions to try. See which works the best for any given person.

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The Ideal Cell Phone for Hard of Hearing People—Not Here Yet

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. with Dana Mulvany

A lady explained: "My cell phone contract is nearing its end, and I am looking at other carriers—trying to find a better phone for me. I've had several cell phones over the years, but have never had one that I was comfortable with except when making calls myself. Which is the best cell phone for hard of hearing people?"

My friend, Dana Mulvany, herself hard of hearing, and like me, an expert in hearing assistive technology including phones explains:

There are actually quite a few issues you may want to consider when purchasing a cell phone. Some of these include:

• The audio quality of voice transmissions. It is important to assess how well your voice comes across on the phone in addition to how well you can hear on the phone. Unfortunately, some phones do a poor job transmitting all the frequencies people need in order to hear speech as well as possible. This is particularly important if the person you are talking with is also hard of hearing.
   
• The volume of the phone. Is the maximum volume enough so that you can hear people well?
   
• The M and T rating. Ideally, you want a phone that is rated M4/T4. This gives your hearing aids the greatest immunity from interference from the phone in both voice and t-coil modes.
   
• The availability of a 2.5 mm jack (for accessories such as a neckloop or T-links).
   
• Whether you are effectively alerted to the phone ringing. Is the ring tone audible to you. Is the vibration strong enough?
   
• Whether you can be alerted effectively to call waiting, text messages, etc.
   
• Whether or not Web CapTel will work on the phone
   
• Whether the phone will support Mobile CapTel (both voice and Web CapTel at the same time).
   
• Compatibility of the phone's Bluetooth feature with hearing aid compatible accessories such as bluetooth neckloops.
   
• Access to text messaging.
   
• Ease of use of texting.
   
• Access to email.
   
• Access to web sites.
   
• The cost of voice and data plans.
   
• Video capabilities (in the future) for people who use sign language or lip reading.
   
• The availability of mobile TV with captioning (in the future).

No phones come with all the above features. You need to decide which features are important to you and get the phone that best meets your needs..

Is there one perfect phone for us? I'm afraid not at this time!

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                       HEARING LOSS HELP E-zine

Neil Bauman, Publisher               Center for Hearing Loss Help
49 Piston Court                       Stewartstown, PA 17363 USA
Phone: (717) 993-8555                       Fax (717) 993-6661
http://www.hearinglosshelp.com     neil@hearinglosshelp.com

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