I'm trying to find a phone for my mother that she can cope with. She's hard of hearing, has very poor eyesight and a lack of feeling in her fingers. She has a cordless phone that is designed for the deaf and elderly but she has trouble finding and operating the correct buttons to adjust the volume level. This is the main problem, she doesn't need to adjust the volume if it was permanently loud it would be fine, the one button that does give enough volume needs to be pressed each time she answers the phone since it resets. What tends to happen is that she answers the phone, finds she can't hear, struggles to find the button, gets flustered, and ends up pressing buttons randomly. Everything I've found so far from organisations designed to help are the same generic phones, has anybody got any ideas? The most promising thing I've come across so far are simple telephone amplifiers but there doesn't seem to be one suitable for a cordless phone as they all go in line with the handset.
Can she use something like this? Very loud, undistorted audio speakerphone.
Polycom SoundStation VTX 1000 Conference Phone w/ Power Module (2200-07300-001, 2201-07142-001) "C-Stock"
I have wondered about speakerphones, since another problem is that when she's holding the phone to her ear the boost button, which is the most effective, and the volume up and down controls tend to get inadvertently pressed. This is due to poor design in the first place since the buttons on the sides of the phone. She also needs to have the phone close to her eyes and use peripheral vision in order to find any of the control buttons. It is very difficult. All she really needs is a phone she can pick up and answer and that is permanently loud.
) and that is loud enough. Using the volume buttons and turning it right up is nowhere near as loud
Thanks, that looks like a very useful service, she did used to be a very good typist, unfortunately now she hasn't the manual dexterity or good enough vision though she did used to touch type. I will mention it to her see what she thinks, but I'm not very positive, sorry, but unfortunately that is the nature of the situation. At present I'm leaning towards a very simple telephone amplifier such as this L286 - PhonePlus phone amplifier | Action on Hearing Loss although it would mean giving up on her cordless phone most of the time
She likes carrying it around with her, but something like that could work, thanks for the suggestions. I'd like to do something DIYable! I've just got the manual to her phone online and it seems the boost function can be turned on permanently in the menu I didn't realise this, she's in Birmingham but one of my brother's lives nearby so this may be all that's required since she does seem to manage with the boost and it was only the fact that it kept resetting itself that was a problem
An elderly friend of ours found this very useful:
Corded Phones : AMPLIDECT COMBI PHOTO 295
Instead of pictures on the buttons, she just had one large letter for the people chosen - easier to see than a picture.
It was pretty loud too. Got it from Amazon.
Corded Phones : AMPLIDECT COMBI PHOTO 295
Instead of pictures on the buttons, she just had one large letter for the people chosen - easier to see than a picture.
It was pretty loud too. Got it from Amazon.
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