Make your phone your friend, again
Ironically, when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, he was trying to create a device to help people with hearing loss. The telephone, however, became one of the most difficult modern conveniences for people with hearing loss to use.
Now, people with hearing and speech losses have equal access to the telephone system, at no cost. If you’ve tried amplified telephones and they didn’t help, check into the Minnesota Telephone Equipment Distribution Program. TED distributes modern state-of-the-art equipment, some of which was not even on the market a few years ago.
Amplified telephones distributed by TED, allow users to hear more clearly with volume and tone controls, which allow someone with a high tone hearing loss (common for people who lose their hearing later in life) to boost sounds that are harder to hear without making other tones so loud they are uncomfortable.
Also, a new product, the Captioned Telephone or CapTel, can help you understand what is being said. It has a small screen with a visual display of everything being said to you.
The TED program also gives out equipment that helps people hear the telephone ring, and highly specialized equipment for people with speech limitations, hearing loss with some vision loss or someone who may not be able to hold or dial a standard telephone.
The program assures lifelong access to qualified applicants. If the equipment breaks, becomes out of date or your needs change and the equipment you have can no longer help you, TED repairs, replaces or upgrades the equipment at no cost.
If you or someone you know has trouble using the telephone, call 1-800/657-3663, visit us on the web at www.tedprogram.org, or contact a regional service office listed at the end of this article.
Want to buy a hearing aid?First get a hearing exam from an audiologist. Bring a copy of your audiogram when getting fitted. Then, locate a certified dispenser to help you select a hearing aid that is more appropriate for you. Hearing aid dispensers must be certified by the Minnesota Department of Health. Call 651/282-5620 or 1-800/657-3837 to check if a hearing instrument dispenser is certified. To check if a speech language pathologist or audiologist is licensed in Minnesota, call 651/282-5629.
After you purchase a hearing aid, state law gives you 45 days to try it out. Allow yourself time to get used to it. But if you are not satisfied with it, you can return it within 45 days and get a refund. The amount of the refund must be on your sales contract when you buy the hearing aid.
For more information about hearing aids, including how to find financial resources that may help, see Minnesota’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing website: www.dhhsd.org or contact an office near you:
- Duluth--888/234-1322 (V), 888/723-3344 (TTY)
- Virginia--218/748-2253 (V), 218/748-2252 (TTY)
- Bemidji--888/663-8329 (V/TTY)
- Fergus Falls--800/456-7589 (V/TTY)
- St. Cloud--800/456-3690 (V/TTY)
- St. Paul--651/297-1316 (V), 651-297-1313 (TTY)
- Mankato--507/389-1626 (V), 507/389-1689 (TTY)
- Rochester--800/311-1148 (V/TTY)
This article was prepared by Rich Diedrichsen, MS, RCD, Minnesota Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, St. Cloud, Minnesota and Sarah Maheswaran, state administrator for the TED program.
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