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Phoning: Problems and strategies for the deaf and hard-of hearing

How well deaf people can cope with phoning depends on the nature of their hearing problems. This page is for people who can cope, but often only just. Phoning is something to be put off rather than enjoyed, as effort has to go into understanding an interpreting, before being able to respond. Also there is pain and echoing inside their heads, which are off-putting and exhausting.

Buying a phone for a deaf person

The following strategies are by no means the answer to all the problems experienced when buying a phone for a deaf person. However, they should stimulate your thinking so that you can adopt or adapt them for your own use.

1. It is crucial to have a phone that first and foremost works for you, and only then to look at the price tag. This means buying a phone from a dealer who will agree to refund the cost if the phone is unsuitable. Some do, willingly, but a surprising number of well-known and well-regarded high street names will not.
2. Similarly it is crucial when buying any type of phone to speak to the manager and ask his advice. It is invariably possible to tell from a manager's reaction, whether he or she really does know his or her stock. A really negative give-away is, "It all depends what you want / or can afford". After trailing round numerous shops, I was lucky to find a manager who said, "This is a house-phone you will not want to bring back" - and he was right.
3. A house-phone with a loudspeaker button can be very useful. Although designed for use by several people at a time, it can be used on your own; it amplifies without the discomfort of anything in your ear.
4. As it can be difficult to hear the ring on a mobile phone in a crowded situation, the strength of the vibration is important. Surprisingly quite a number of mobile phones vibrate so gently that one doesn't notice the vibration in one's pocket. Some Nokia ones are particularly good, but do try the vibration out before buying.
5. It is worth playing around with the various ring phones for a mobile, to find one that can be recognised over the background noise of traffic and people. A thumping tune can be particularly suitable.
6. Get a strap fixed to your mobile phone, so that it can be hung round your neck This makes it easier to detect an incoming call. A good phone shop will sell and fit the strap for you.
7. Think about buying a coloured shell for your mobile phone to enhance its appearance as a piece of pendant jewellery. The widest choice of shells, and the best value, is from the internet.

Using a phone as a deaf person

Particular problems arise when interacting by phone with people one doesn't know, like commercial operators in banks or government, especially when they have regional accents which need to be got used to. It is commonplace that they just manage to repeat what they say, when asked, but seldom any more loudly or clearly. The assumption seems to be that the person on the other end of the phone simply isn't concentrating and might do so second time round.

So there remain a number of issues about phone usage that don't seem readily solvable.

Outstanding issues about hearing problems when using a phone

1. One partial solution is to get someone with normal hearing to phone for a deaf person. Yet this feels undignified and degrading and doesn't provide the personal satisfaction of being sociable.

2. Another partial solution involves avoidance. Yet letters and email do not always solicit as satisfactory results as a phone call.

Can you suggest possible solutions?

Hearing problems

Sound level issues
Pitch issues
Distortion issues
Background noise
Pain and sensitivity