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What
aggravates you about your current telephone and phone
conversations?
Dissatisfaction
is a good starting point in shopping for a telephone, because it
gives you a wish list of desirable features. When you know
what's holding you back, you know what to look for. For instance,
it's hard to enjoy phone conversations when just dialing,
holding the phone, hearing or being heard is difficult.
Fortunately,
telephones are available to address most any physical
need. Here's a rundown of the most popular features...
How
often have you raced for the phone, only to have the caller hang
up just as you answer? Or, perhaps worse, reach the phone
just in time, but out of breath, with your heart pounding, only
to find it was a nuisance call.
Such
mad dashes cause an adrenaline surge that punishes your body and
drains you emotionally. And the act of
hurrying puts you at risk of injury.
So
forget racing for a ringing phone. Instead, keep a
cordless phone by your side and carry it with you as you move
about. A Caller
ID display on the handset is helpful in identifying the
caller.
Another
option is to rely upon an answering machine to pick up and
take a message (perhaps amplified with tone control to make it
easier to distinguish all the words). Knowing you will not
miss out and can call back later removes the urgency from the
phone's ringing.
Still,
a ringing phone can be a tyrant. Adding Caller
ID can be
liberating, letting you know who is calling, so you can opt
to pick up or not.
At
least that's how it is supposed to work. But a tiny Caller
ID that leaves you guessing or that you can see only if you rush
to the phone is of limited value. Instead consider a Caller
ID with extra-large display or one that identifies
incoming calls and call-waiting calls by announcing
the caller's recorded name or phone number over a
built-in speaker.
Do
you strain to hear what a caller is saying? Are you
white-knuckled from pressing the receiver to your ear, so as to
not let the smallest sound escape? Do you miss words and
try to deduce their meaning? If so, an amplified phone can make
life much more pleasant.
Amplified
telephones pump up the volume. Many phones offer some
amplification in the handset, in the region of 5 to 10 decibels
(dB). Specialty phones designed for the hearing impaired
can increase volume up to 50dB (100 times).
Phones
designed to compensate for hearing loss usually offer some form
of tone (pitch) control in addition to amplification.
Hearing declines with age, and we lose higher pitch sounds first, making it harder to
hear children's voices and specific sounds like the
whistling of an 's'. Tone control allows the user to amplify
those tones, so they hear a broader range of
sounds. Sometimes when tone is adjusted properly on a
telephone, no additional volume boost is required.
Coping
with extreme hearing loss? TTY text telephones don't
rely upon carrying sounds. Instead they come with a keyboard that prints
text. Instant messaging, on computer or cell phone,
accomplishes the same thing.
If
speaking is tiring or difficult for you, get a phone that
amplifies weak or esophageal voices up to 15dB. Such a
phone will enable the other party to hear you without your
having to strain to speak louder.
Amplified
phones solve a major problem for those with hearing-impairment,
enabling them to communicate with callers. But how are they to hear
the phone in the first place?
Most
amplified phones come equipped with loud ringers and a visual
indicator. If more assistance is needed, an extra loud
ringer or very bright strobe
flasher (especially handy when an extra-loud ring might
disturb others) will generally do the trick.
Lots
of problems can interfere with dialing:
If
you suffer from vision loss or weak muscle control, a big button
keypad can help. Look for big button phones that display
numbers with high contrast (black on white, white on black) for
easier identification.
Dialing
errors can also be reduced by using phones with one-touch
push-button speed dialing. One of the most popular of
these, the Ameriphone Photo
Phone, even lets you insert a
picture on the button to identify the person to be dialed.
Voice
dialing is another speed dial option. At a voice command,
the voice dialer dials the numbers. This is ideal for
those with arthritis or vision impairment, and for people who
can remember names, but not phone numbers.
Lengthy
conversations can be hard on the hands. If your hands tire or
ache from gripping the handset, do away with the chore by using
a headset or speakerphone. These products, long popular in
the office setting, are just as liberating at home.
Be
creative. Enjoy both portability and ease with
a cordless handset
containing an inbuilt speakerphone. Now
you can roam at will, answer the phone quickly when it rings,
and talk by speakerphone without wearing out your hand grasping
the receiver.
Tabletop
speakerphones often add other helpful features such as
amplification and caller ID.
If
your hand movements are extremely limited, you might need a
speakerphone with voice-activated answering. When the
telephone rings, a person says "hello" and the phone
is answered. The discussion then takes place over the
speakerphone. A remote switch that operates with a light
touch or a puff of air can be used to hang up the phone.
Telephones
link us to our community of friends and family, both close by and far away.
Make sure your phone helps you stay connected, by simplifying
communication and compensating for any physical
limitations. The phone that does that is the
right phone for you.
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