by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A man explained:
My hearing is not what it used to be. I don’t use hearing aids or anything else now. I have an Ameriphone XL-40 amplified desk phone. I’m looking for a way to make it hands free [headset with microphone] at a reasonable price. Any ideas?
I was once in your position. I had looked high and low for a hands-free binaural amplified headset that I could use with a landline (amplified) phone. The problem was, even the best headsets made by well-known companies had far less amplification than I needed. Connecting them to an amplified phone didn’t help as the headset amplifier limited the maximum volume to some (to me) low level (presumably to protect peoples ears, but that made them totally useless to people with severe hearing losses).
Therefore, I was delighted when I discovered an amplified headset that didn’t limit the maximum volume. This unit contains a binaural headset so both ears can hear, (This gives you much better comprehension at a lower volume, which helps save your hearing.), a boom microphone and a 45 dB gain in-line amplifier.
The in-line amplifier connects between the phone base and handset/headset. I LOVE mine. I use it in conjunction with my Clarity XL-50 amplified phone (the big brother of your amplified phone). I now have enough volume to “blow my brains out” if I operated them at full volume! Mind you, I have a pretty severe hearing loss so I need lots of amplification.
This in-line amplifier/headset combination is not exactly cheap, but it works wonderfully well for me so it is definitely worth the price. It will work with almost any landline phone (except those with the buttons in the handset) whether amplified or not. If you don’t need high power like I do, you may find it works well for you with just a regular desk phone.
You can see this wonderful binaural amplified headset here and an amplified phone that works well with it. (Note: the Clarity XL-50 phone is no longer available.)
See what you think. This sounds like the kind of thing you were looking for.
I have a reverse slope loss and have some trouble with the phone. We use a VoIP phone at work. Do you have any recommendations for an amplified phone with tone control and binaural headset that will work for VoIP? Thank you.