FREE Amplified Phones or Smartphones for Kansans with Hearing Loss

Jan 22, 2020

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By Mark Shaver, PhD, CCC-A, of William Newton Audiology

Around 15 percent of American adults have some trouble hearing, with older adults far more likely to experience these hearing difficulties than younger adults. While around 25 percent of Americans between 65 and 74 have disabling hearing loss, this number increases to 50 percent for those 75 years and older.

These hearing difficulties can make keeping in touch with friends and family or simply conducting routine tasks like paying bills or calling customer support quite challenging. While hearing aids can improve hearing on the phone, we know that only around 1 in 4 of those who could benefit from hearing aids actually use them. Cost is one of the most common barriers, as Medicare and most private insurances do not pay for hearing aids.

While affording hearing aids may be challenging, overcoming hearing difficulties on the phone may be much easier than you realized! Let’s start with home phones.

Commonly used landline phones may not be able to get loud enough for persons with hearing loss. They may be able to be made loud enough, but perhaps they do not seem clear enough. This sounds like the person on the other end of the phone isn’t speaking clearly. This frequent experience has to do with a common characteristic of age-related hearing loss where hearing for the higher pitches is often worse than hearing for the lower pitches. Simply making the phone volume louder is not always the best solution.

Amplified phones are specifically intended to be used by those with hearing loss and can be made both louder and clearer by allowing for greater volume at higher pitches than at lower pitches as well as other beneficial alterations to the phone’s sound.

Since 1997 the Kansas Telecommunications Access Program (TAP) has been providing phones and related equipment to help those with disabilities, including hearing loss. In order to qualify they require Kansas residents have existing telephone service, income below $55,000 per year, and difficulty hearing, seeing, speaking, remembering, walking, or holding a phone. While the focus of this article is hearing loss and phone use, the TAP program serves a wider range of Kansans with disabilities.

If you have completely replaced your home phone with a mobile phone, then you’re certainly not alone. You’re not left out either because the TAP program has an option for that too! Some persons with hearing loss use cell phones, but have stuck with the classic flip phone. While these flip phones are not cutting edge they do have their advantages—durable, inexpensive, and easy to use. But they also have their drawbacks especially for those with hearing loss. Flip phones may not be as loud or as clear as smartphones, and they also don’t work as well as smartphones when it comes to hearing aid compatibility.

So if getting a new smartphone sounds like a better option, the TAP program can provide a pre-selected smartphone or tablet. They can also reimburse up to $450 towards a new device if you would rather obtain it through your mobile carrier. In addition, if you already have hearing aids but still have difficulty hearing on your mobile phone, there may even be some special accessories available through TAP that could improve hearing on your mobile phone.

If you have hearing difficulties on the phone, consider getting your hearing tested by an audiologist and see if TAP or another available program could help make your life sound a little better. For questions, contact William Newton Audiology at 620-222-6256, or stop by the Winfield Healthcare Center at 1305 E 5th Ave.

Editor's Note: This article was submitted by William Newton Hospital for the Cowley CourierTraveler Regional Medical Guide published January 22, 2020.****