To use the Univox DLS-50 with a telephone, you need to get a special telephone recorder adapter from any Radio Shack store. You can use either Part No. 43-2208 (newer), or 43-228A (if still available) ($19.99) or Part No. 43-1237 ($22.99). I like the former better.
To use the Univox on the phone, simply plug adapter 43-2208 (or 43-228A) into the wall and plug your phone into the adapter, or if using adapter 43-1237, unplug the handset from the base, plug the adapter into the phone base and the handset cord into the adapter. (You use your phones normally with these devices in place.)
To use either one of these devices with the Univox DLS-50, just plug the cord with the 1/8″ male plug into the back of the Univox into either the “Line” or “Mic/Line” jack. Make sure the adapter switch is set to “rec” and not to “play.” That’s it.
The output of the Univox DLS-50 can either be the wire room loop or the loop pad on your chair. Your choice. Set your hearing aids to t-coil position. The neat thing is that you hear through both ears at the same time so clarity is better than when just using one ear. If you need more volume, adjust the power control on the front of the Univox.
When the phone rings, you have to answer in the traditional manner by picking up a handset. You talk into the handset (which could be a cordless phone if you are using No. 43-2208) but to hear instead of holding the handset up to your ear, you turn on your t-coils and hear the phone via the t-coils in your hearing aids as long as you are standing inside the loop. The nice thing about this is that you hear the phone with both ears if you wear two hearing aids with t-coils.
Note, if you have both your TV and phone hooked to the same loop, you’ll have a problem if you are watching the TV and the phone rings because you’ll hear both the TV and the phone at the same time (and thus won’t understand much of anything) unless you turn your TV off. This is one reason I prefer to use amplified phones so I don’t need to use my phones with the loop. I leave the loop system exclusively for the TV.
However, if you are in an office, or don’t hook your TV to the loop system, then using the loop system with your phone is a cool idea. If you always sit in the same place (think office chair for example), you could just use the loop pad instead of looping the whole room.
I’m frequently in small groups and I need assistance with my hearing aids. What would be the best, and least expensive way to get the help I need.
Hi Kay:
If your hearing aids aren’t effectively helping you in small groups, then the solution is to get a microphone closer to the speaker’s lips and hook it up to your hearing aids one way or another. How you do that depends on how small the group is and how close together they are seated.
A loop system (and indeed any assistive listening system) is only as good as the sound getting into the system. That is why capturing the speech via a microphone is the secret. If the person talking would be willing to hold a microphone, or wear a clip-on microphone, that would be ideal. The microphone could then be plugged into a loop system or just directly into something like the PockeTalker 2.0 (see at http://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/pocketalker-2-0/ ) and you wear a neckloop and hear via the t-coils in your hearing aids.
A more expensive solution would be to get an FM system, but as always, you are dependent on people speaking into your microphone.
Cordially,
Neil
If the group is unwilling to pass around and hold a microphone, then you might want to try a microphone that picks up speech from a distance. The Voice Tracker microphone I carry could be that answer, but it only works well in quiet environments as it focuses on the loudest sound it hears. It also needs s standard electrical power outlet for its power. You can see it at http://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/voice-tracker-i-array-microphone/.
It could be plugged into a loop system or a PockeTalker 2.0.