They can make it easier to hear high-pitched sounds, the same sounds many people with hearing loss struggle to hear. You do not need to wear hearing aids to benefit from these devices. Amplified and captioned telephonesĪmplified phones are specifically designed for people with hearing loss, allowing you to turn up the volume as necessary to hear speech clearly. The user types messages on a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer with an Internet connection, and the operator reads those messages aloud to the other party. IP relay is a service that allows people with hearing and speech disabilities to make and receive phone calls using an operator (also known as a communication assistant) as an intermediary. Let's take a look at each category: Telephone IP relay service They include amplified telephones, hearing aid compatible phones and smartphones, television compatible devices, and alerting devices.

Types of assistive listening devices Captioned phones are a type of ALD.Īssistive listening devices enable personal connections to devices, making it easier to hear or communicate. Anyone who's toured a museum wearing a special headset has used an assistive listening system, for example. 'These devices and systems often augment the information coming from a hearing aid, cochlear implant, or other personal hearing device, though some hearing assistive technology can be used even if you don’t use personal hearing devices at all,' notes Lise Hamlin, director of public policy for the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), in an article in The Hearing Journal. Collectively, these are known as hearing assistive technology. But what about situations when your hearing aids aren’t quite enough? First, make sure you've read up on tips for communicating with hearing loss. Next, look into the large variety of assistive listening devices (ALDs) and assistive listening systems (ALSs) that fill the gap in both private and public settings.

If you have hearing loss, it is likely hearing aids will be a tremendous help to you in your daily life.

List assistive listening devices