Will Captel phone solve this problem?

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joec

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Hi,
I would appreciate any comments/replies regarding the following situation:

I have adequate speech and hearing capabilities to converse using standard telephone apparatus. However, I have an elderly aunt (101 years old) living in a care facility in Pennsylvania. I live in California. We have communicated regularly over the phone for many years. However, of late, my aunt's hearing has deteriorated badly. When people talk to her in person they must shout into her ear. When I call her now I must literally scream into the phone and even so she can understand only a small fraction of what I say. I have been researching possible devices to enable us to continue our telephone contact and am very attracted to the idea of providing her with a Captel closed captioned telephone. My aunt can see well, she can read books with unenlarged type. She is somewhat technologically challenged (for example, she has never used a computer).

-From reading the other threads in this forum, I see that people are generally happy with this device. Are there any major drawbacks that are not obvious?
-does this seem to be the right solution as opposed to some form of amplified telephone set ?
-Are there any other solutions to my problem that could be suggested?

In case the information is of any use, my aunt uses an Oticon model "go" digital hearing aid.

All suggestions will be appreciated.
Regards,
Joe
 
From what I have seen of the CapTel here (in NY, and I assume they are "pretty universal") you don't have to be a member of the GeekSquad to figure it out. lol It sounds like CapTel would be a good solution to your aunt's increasing difficulty using the telephone. An amplification device probably won't do much good and I find it just makes the already distorted sounds louder. If she can read and her eyes work well, then I say give it a go. I am not familiar with obtaining a CapTel in CA, but here in NY there are reasonable if you have the necessary documentation.
 
CapTel would probably be perfect for her. It's a rather simple, straightforward device, and not complex to use at all. However, she would have to be willing to put up with the fact that the words do not show up instantly after they are said -- sometimes it takes a few seconds for the words to show up, because it takes time for the voice recognition technology to convert speech into words and ensure it's the correct word in context. Some people are frustrated with that -- they want instant words and instantly be correct.

CapTel phones are amplified too -- so she'll get the benefit of that.

Dennis


joec said:
Hi,
I would appreciate any comments/replies regarding the following situation:

I have adequate speech and hearing capabilities to converse using standard telephone apparatus. However, I have an elderly aunt (101 years old) living in a care facility in Pennsylvania. I live in California. We have communicated regularly over the phone for many years. However, of late, my aunt's hearing has deteriorated badly. When people talk to her in person they must shout into her ear. When I call her now I must literally scream into the phone and even so she can understand only a small fraction of what I say. I have been researching possible devices to enable us to continue our telephone contact and am very attracted to the idea of providing her with a Captel closed captioned telephone. My aunt can see well, she can read books with unenlarged type. She is somewhat technologically challenged (for example, she has never used a computer).

-From reading the other threads in this forum, I see that people are generally happy with this device. Are there any major drawbacks that are not obvious?
-does this seem to be the right solution as opposed to some form of amplified telephone set ?
-Are there any other solutions to my problem that could be suggested?

In case the information is of any use, my aunt uses an Oticon model "go" digital hearing aid.

All suggestions will be appreciated.
Regards,
Joe
Click to expand...
 
Thanks to both of you for the replies. I will go ahead and begin setting her up with this phone. I'll post back later to report on how it works out.
Regards,
Joe
 
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