In article <ED3srF.274 at nonexistent.com> zuller at argoscomp.com (Dana Zuller) writes:
>My 7-year old son wears 2 Unitron US80 Sigma hearing aids.
>He has a bilateral severe-to-profound loss.
>I would like if possible for him to start learning to use the telephone.
>I know this is very difficult but I am hoping that with familiar people and
>simple conversation he can have some conversation.
>The problem is when we switch his hearing aids to the T-switch he says he
>can't hear anything. The telephone is hearing-aid compatible. I listened
>to his aids using a stethoscope at the telephone and could hear someone's
>voice very faintly. I even tried moving all around to see if I could get
>a stronger reception.
>Is this as good as it will get? If so how does anyone use their T-coil?
>For the time being we push the "speakerphone" button and put the volume on
>high.
You always lose gain (loudness) when you switch to the telecoil. My
experience is that the sound run through the telecoil is never as loud as that
through the microphone, and especially with your son's degree of hearing loss,
he really may not hear anything through it.
Your report of using the speakerphone and turning it up is a common statement
from the parents of kids with hearing loss, or they report just taking out the
hearing aid and using an amplified phone.
Lois Barin
Pediatric Audiologist
