Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) & Hearing Protection
Hearing aids improve your hearing in many situations. However, many people need extra help when it comes to hearing things like the television or the telephone. There are complimentary devices, called Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) that can help you get the most out of your hearing aids in difficult listening situations.
ALDs are used either with hearing aids or by themselves. Some ALDs can help with understanding speech. Other ALDs are helpful in detecting warning signals such as an alarm clock, smoke detector or doorbell. For example, you may be at risk for not hearing a smoke detector at night while you are not wearing your hearing aids.
In addition to hearing aids, Allegiance Hearing Center has a complete line of ALDs, including amplified telephones, smoke detector alerts for the hearing impaired and vibrating alarm clocks. These products are available in our office for demonstration and purchase.
The Allegiance Hearing Center is your communication resource for all types of ALDs. Our audiology staff can help you select ALDs that will best help you. Your audiologist can also show you how these devices work, and can demonstrate products that many of our patients have found to be successful.
Assistive Listening Device Consultation
Our audiologists can assist you in selecting ALDs that will be most helpful for you.
Types of ALDs
Personal FM systems
Sometimes hearing aids alone are not enough. This can happen when there is a large distance between you and the sound source or when there is a lot of background noise in the room. An FM system is a personal communication system that works with your hearing aids. It allows your hearing aids to get a signal directly from a microphone that the speaker wears or has near them.
Amplified telephones
There are amplified telephones available that increase the volume so it is easier to hear the person talking to you. Some of these amplified telephone models include features such as caller ID, speaker phone and built-in answering machines. There are also amplified telephones that alert you the phone is ringing by using an extra loud ringer or a flashing light. Portable telephone amplifiers are useful for people who travel or find themselves away from home.
Television listening systems
FM and infrared listening systems can make hearing the television easier. These devices can be used either with or without hearing aids. There are several different devices to choose from, and your audiologist can help you in selecting one that best fits your needs and your budget.
Alarms and alerting devices
Various alerting devices are also available. Some of these types of alarms are critical to the safety of you and your family in your home environment.
A few examples of alarm devices include:
- Alarm clocks that vibrate under your pillow or have an extra loud alarm signal to wake you.
- Doorbell alert systems that use a flashing lamp in your living area to let you know that someone is at the door.
- Smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors that use a bright strobe light in addition to an easy to hear signal to wake you up and alert you of danger.
Cell phones and Hearing Aids
Some hearing aids have complimentary cellular telephone accessories that will assist you in hearing cell phone conversations. Some cell phones work better than others with hearing aids and your audiologist can discuss the availability and compatibility of these accessories for your particular hearing aids.
The following websites also offer more insight about which cell phones work best with hearing aids:
Hearing protection and other custom products
We live in a noisy world. Protecting your hearing and the hearing of your loved ones becomes even more important once you have developed hearing loss. In addition to ALDs, there are custom products that can protect your hearing from dangerous levels of noise. The Allegiance Hearing Center offers custom-made hearing protection for a variety of uses.
Other types of custom products are also popular with our patients and their family members. From fitted earplugs for swimmers, to specially filtered earplugs for musicians, to custom earpieces for iPod users, our audiologists are able to assist you and your family with these custom products.
Source: www.betterhearing.org