How do I help Mom hear better on her telephone?

How is her comprehension of spoken language in person? Why is she calling you 7 times a day? If she is in Assisted Living, can staff help her with whatever her issue is at the moment? Or can she have staff call you so that she can relay the message to you through them.

I would be concerned that she's calling you so much. Is she not engaging in activities? Or does she not realize that staff is there to help (it took my mom a long time to get used to calling the desk, not my brother, when something was broken)? Or is there a problem that she needs solved?

I'm sorry to answer your question with so many questions, but more information would allow us to be me helpful.

When she is on the phone, take out the hearing aid. They cause interference on the phone. And get a phone that the volume can be increased.

My dad has hard of hearing. But refuses to get hearing aid. He would hit the speaker phone button on the cordless and was able to converse. Lately, that's no longer working. So one day, while he was trying to talk to my brother, I hit the Speaker phone button on the main phone equipment. When I did that, my dad was able to finally hear my brother. My dad still thought it was from his cordless phone but it was really loud and clear from the main phone's speaker. I tried not to giggle as he and my brother conversed. Bro did not know that I had put it on speaker. But, hey, it worked. For now.

Sophe509, I know what you are going through as my Mom [97] can no longer hear even with two hearing aids... there just isn't anything more the doctor can do for her.

The last telephone I bought her has a *boost* button to increase the volume.... but it doesn't help much at all. And since Mom is almost blind, a telephone with a voice typed screen wouldn't be much help.... [sigh].

Forget cellphones or iPhones... even I can't hear very well on those... terrible connection and sound... bet young kids today think that is how all phones sound as they never witnessed the true clarity and sound of a landline, with no fade in and out, or disconnects or dropped calls :)

Thanks Sophe. You certainly do understand. It really hit me the day after I had driven 80 miles round trip to take her to a hearing aid specialist and get new aids. The next day she told my sister she hadn't seen or heard from me in weeks! She denied ever going to get new hearing aids. That's when I knew for sure that she would never remember much about me. She says thank you when I bring her food and snacks, but I'm sure she has no idea how they got there (or if they are there) five minutes later. Its so sad.

Sophe; it sounds as though her dementia is advancing, and I'm not sure if this is a "stage" or what. But she certainly needs help to get through it, whether it's behavioral or chemical. Changes of mental status should always be reported to her doctor, right away. They can signal a UTI or other infection, amazingly (I didn't know that until I started hanging out here). So if this is new, I'd call her doc right away. Sadly, at some point, she may need more care than the AL can provide for her. Keep us updated; we all learn from each other here.

Well, we've worked out a temporary solution. She calls and tells me whatever her concerns are and I send her a Presto back to her room with a summary of the call and whatever info/advice I had for her. It may be a couple hours before it prints out but at least it is in writing and she can still read, it seems. How long can Alzheimers people continue to read and understand what they are reading, does anybody have experience with that?

Here's the info on the Presto.

Sophe509, thank you so much for this information :) I went to the website and it sounds like something my parents could use. I will ask Dad what he thinks, as he rarely can get into his email because he's on dial-up in a high-speed world in our area.

kjn is a spammer. He/she is good at it, making it look like actual parts of the thread and sliding in the company name and services.