Help! My 81 y/o mother is extremely HOH.

[mykpart]

She wears hearing aids which help some. Without them she hears almost nothing. One of my concerns is that she lives alone and does not like to sleep with her hearing aids in. So then she doesn't hear the telephone ring or the smoke detector. I don't know what assistance is available to her.

Another problem is, I need someone to explain to me the best way to speak to someone like Mom. Should I speak very loud? This usually doesn't seem to help, and other times she will overhear conversations in low tones. There are times when it is important that I am sure she understands what she is being told. Can y'all help me?

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. Re: Phone

I think the phone company can provide help with equipment that could assist your mom.

Maybe she/you could check with her audiologist for some input on finding items to assist her.

Also, check out this products site:
(Thanks to HawkeyeX's post about his state's online deaf site! :thumbsup: )

http://www.harriscomm.com/catalog/default.php?webstore=main&sr=codeaf

And another site:
http://www.adcohearing.com/

[Hawkeye-X]

3. My wife used to work for ADCO

They're good people too.

And my wife is friends with the son of the owner of Hearmore.com

[uppityperson]

2. Clarity rather than volume can help loads

Speaking too loudly may make it more difficult to understand sometimes. Odd, but there it is. We can also be quite sensitive to loud noises (dramaticmusic fight scenes in movies for example). Clarity is more of a problem. Speak clearly, nothing in front of face, and facing the person. Many of us lipread a bit without knowing we do it. And being spoken to directly just makes what we hear clearer.

Phone, smoke detector, alarm clock, there are things available to help with that. Alarms can be flashing light or vibration, talk to her audiologist.