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Mom is so deaf she can't hear on the phone (she also pushes the phone hard against her ear so the hearing aid doesn't work - we've been telling her to hold it a few inches away for years, but it does not compute!) I thought we might try one of those phones that spells out the conversation so she can read it. I was hoping to find a charity that loans them - we can't afford to buy something like that, only to find out her comprehension is so bad that the phone doesn't help.

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There is a telephone available called "CapTel". It uses a captioning service just like what is on television. The telephone has a screen onto which the words are displayed and your mother could read, as well as hear through the handset. There is a way to get free or reduced cost phones on their website. I don't have one and haven't used one, so I cannot vouch for the company or for the phone. Go to their website for video demonstrations and other info.
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The type seems to move around the same rate as the weather warnings on the screen. I found it distracting, trying to use it because they would type "Uh" and other words that I was using, and I started feeling really self conscious!

My mother would be reading it and then silence while she processed what they were saying - and then the one on the other end of the line would wonder what had happened ( "Did I say something to upset you? Can you not hear me?")
If you can read fairly fast, it would work ok.
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Yes, Mom can read. She might be helped as long as she doesn't have to DO anything beside pick up the receiver and the words scroll across the screen.
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Contact your state Department of Human Services, ( DHHS) or also try Independent living council for seniors - it's through the Vocational Rehab for your state.
We tried it, and my mother could not read fast enough to keep up!
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I wonder how quickly do the words scroll across the screen and how many lines of text are available... I know I can't read the scroll at the bottom of the TV during the news... it moves too quickly.
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In California, you can get phones designed for the hearing impaired for free from the state. The local state DHS can refer you to a location where you can pick up the phones. There are several models and some are designed for the persons that have complete hearing loss. Hope this helps! If not in California, check with your local department of health and human services to see if there is a program available in your area.
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Thanks for the personal feedback regarding the CapTel, Living South. I was thinking that it might work for my MIL, but she too has trouble reading fast enough to keep up with the television captioning. It sounds like a good idea, just not quite there yet. However, it's a far better idea than the old teletype kind of phones where you had to have that typewriter thing on both ends. So, it's an improvement, but not perfect.
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Hi ,I am hearing impaired ,and have used services from League of Hard of Hearing,you can google it for your area,I received a free phone-they also have a phone for sight impaired.Good luck
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I was in the same position. I had the free phone people come out to put in a cap tel type phone, one the prints out what the other person is saying, but they put in an amplified phone instead, for free. The reason they won't give her a cap tel is that you have to be quite 'with it' to manage the technology. It's not simple. This is a big gap in the service sector...no simple to use cap tel phones.

As an alternative, consider a Presto (I do not have any financial interest in this company). It's an offshoot of HP. It's a printing email box. A selected group of friends can send Mom emails and pictures. Five times a day the little thing calls the service center and picks up any emails and then prints them out for Mom to read. Only thing she (or someones else) has to do is put paper in and put a cartridge in now and then. It works really well for sending photographs and for sending reminders about what's coming up for the day. It prints your phone # out on top so she can call you if she has something to say about it. She's losing her ability to read but even then I can just send pictures on it for her to enjoy. She just doesn't use the phone that much any more.
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The amplified phone was free from the deaf and hard of hearing services people.
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