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Learning to listen on the phone


Mary Beth

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Please share how you became comfortable listening on the phone with your CI.

How did you even begin?

 

@Vera

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At first, I switched to T or MT and used our landline phone because it was easier to figure out how to hold it against my processor to get the best sound.  I had to move it around a bit while listening to my spouse who had called me for some phone practice.

We kept the calls short.

Then I started using Telephone With Confidence every day.  It’s just a number you call and listen to someone reading an article while you follow along.  You can easily duplicate this by having a friend phone you and read an agreed upon article so you can follow along.

 

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2 hours ago, Mary Beth said:

At first, I switched to T or MT and used our landline phone because it was easier to figure out how to hold it against my processor to get the best sound.  I had to move it around a bit while listening to my spouse who had called me for some phone practice.

We kept the calls short.

Then I started using Telephone With Confidence every day.  It’s just a number you call and listen to someone reading an article while you follow along.  You can easily duplicate this by having a friend phone you and read an agreed upon article so you can follow along.

 

Is that much different from listening to an audiobook and reading along, @Mary Beth?

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@Mary Featherston

In fact, yes.  Because the entire purpose of this is to become comfortable with hearing on the phone.  So experimenting with using T, MT and M with different phones is the focus.  And exploring tech that we can use with phones as well.

Just creating a no stress, safe way to explore hearing on the phone.

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Oh - sure.  I was listening to my audiobooks on the phone, which is why I made the connection!

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@Mary Featherston

I find the sound quality of audiobooks much better than the sound quality of actual phone calls.  There are a lot of factors for phone calls.....the connection, the way the speaker positions the phone while they talk, if the speaker is chewing gum or eating while on the phone, the quality of the phone audio itself.

If only all phone calls sounded as good as the audiobooks!  We would have no issues at all.  Smile.

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@Mary Beth oh, no kidding.  I have not really got serious about the phone yet - the sound quality I'm getting is much improved but the new CI still needs those last high frequencies to integrate.

Then I'll think about the phone.

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I am still having problems with the phone weather it be cell or landline however its improving but I really think I’ve learned to really listen to the other person as I am thinking it’s what type of phone the other person is using and if a head set is being worn makes a different.My friend uses his speaker phone goth cell and car and I have a difficult time because it’s him not me. I find customer service people very difficult as they all use head set and talk very fast even when you tell them you are hearing impaired or have an implant 

 

 

 

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@Dave in Pittsburgh - that's one of my peeves.  People are hired for phone jobs who can't enunciate, who wear headsets with the microphone down by their necks.  They mumble and they act like I'm an idiot because I can't hear.

 

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On 12/18/2018 at 8:40 PM, Dave in Pittsburgh said:

I am still having problems with the phone weather it be cell or landline however its improving but I really think I’ve learned to really listen to the other person as I am thinking it’s what type of phone the other person is using and if a head set is being worn makes a different.My friend uses his speaker phone goth cell and car and I have a difficult time because it’s him not me. I find customer service people very difficult as they all use head set and talk very fast even when you tell them you are hearing impaired or have an implant 

 

 

 

Me Too

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@Jewel - nope, not bothering with the phone yet.  I've spent the last 20 years avoiding the phone, a few more months while I rehab won't kill me.

(I loathe telephones)

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@Mary Featherston

I loathed phones when I couldn't hear but now I don't mind using the phone to make a call. 

You might be pleasantly surprised when you actually make a phone call with your CI. 

One thing about being to hear now is that people will phone or video call me and have me on the phone for very long! It was nicer when they were forced to text me! I could keep the convos short! 😂 😂 😂 

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You have answered all of your own questions,I too. have the same problem,however if you have Roger I’ve found by useing Roger attachment to the cell has help me .If you haven’t, it’s a short cable with head set tape on it.Its blue tooth and stream right to your Sonnet. Another thing you can do is ,it’s a free App it’s InnoCapiton  it’s close caption you can see what is being said,also you can go into their settings and when you make a phone call from your cell it’s your number that shows not a close caption number.

Hope this helps

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@Jewel - I'm getting there but right now the calls I'm forced to be on (conference calls) are still not clear.  I had something of a setback, my second CI side was rehabbing nicely and suddenly two weeks ago the tinniness and distortion increased exponentially.  It was obviously not a hardware problem because we didn't re-map last time and in any case I had the same problem with both Sonnet and Rondo2.  I'm making some progress on getting that to go away, and then it will just be this persistent echo on the right - though the echo is less disruptive to listening, much as I dislike it I think it's less of an impediment with phones.

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@Mary Featherston

If you end up with that persistent echo on the right and want to explore an option to see if it goes away, read up on the research happening at Vanderbilt called image guided CI MAPping.  Several people have gone and reported significant sound quality improvement.  

I participated in it several years ago and still love my image guided electrodes.  My audiologist MAPs them for me.  She encouraged me to participate.  There is no risk because if you do not prefer the image guided MAP, you just return to using your regular MAPs.

 

Just a thought.

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@Mary Featherston

I hear better when I hold up the handset to the processor. I don't hear well on the speakerphone sometimes. And when they do a conference call around a small phone which isn't a conference phone I'm totally lost. 

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3 hours ago, Mary Beth said:

@Mary Featherston

If you end up with that persistent echo on the right and want to explore an option to see if it goes away, read up on the research happening at Vanderbilt called image guided CI MAPping.  Several people have gone and reported significant sound quality improvement.  

I participated in it several years ago and still love my image guided electrodes.  My audiologist MAPs them for me.  She encouraged me to participate.  There is no risk because if you do not prefer the image guided MAP, you just return to using your regular MAPs.

 

Just a thought.

@Mary Beth did you have to go to Vanderbilt for this?

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Thanks, @Jewel - I will do some testing.  I had got to the point of hearing not too badly on my own office speakerphone but the second CI isn't there yet.

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Yes @Mary Featherston I went to Vanderbilt to participate in one of their Image Guided CI programming research studies.  After that my awesome CI audiologist has created my MAPs using the targeted electrodes from that study.

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My CI or processor are enemy of phones. I only try use it with phone speaker and I'm not always lucky.

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@Valentin

Have you tried using the phone with an Artone 3 MAX neckloop and Rondo on MT?

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@Vera talks about now being comfortable on the phone in episode 6 of her video series!

@Mary Featherston talks about using the phone in her successful interview process for a new position in her company!

@Jewel talks about her new comfort on the phone in a recent post!

How did you each become comfortable using the phone?  Any suggestions for CI users who are considering tackling hearing on the phone?

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