Learning to live with a Cochlear Implant
Assistive Devices and Training
There are many assistive devices available for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. Some NHS Audiology departments have equipment that they can show you or loan to you for a trial period. Ask your Hearing Therapist or Audiologist for advice on the equipment available
Contact your local Social Services Department to see if they can lend you the equipment to use at home. Otherwise you will have to buy it for yourself. If you do purchase equipment, ask for a 28 day, money back guarantee so that you can try it out first.
If you need special equipment for work because of your hearing loss, contact the Disability Employment Adviser at your Job Centre.
Doorbells
If you have a severe to profound hearing loss a doorbell which activates a flashing light or a paging device may be helpful.
Flashing light systems can either be plugged into electrical sockets, so that you can move them around the house, or wired into the electricity mains (making all the lights in your house flash or dim). It is also possible to obtain a vibrating pad that can be placed under your pillow to wake you at night.
With paging systems you wear a small vibrating pager in your pocket, which alerts you when the doorbell is pressed. If you have more than one device in your home a pagers with a display is used to tell you which device has been activated (e.g. alarms, telephones or the doorbell).
Alarm Clocks
It is possible to obtain alarm clocks with flashing lights or a vibrating pad to go under your pillow and alert you when you are asleep.
Baby Alarms
Baby alarms with flashing lights are useful.
Smoke or Fire Alarms/Detectors
There are domestic fire alarms available with flashing lights and vibrating pads.
Telephones
There are various adaptations that will enable a partially hearing person hear more clearly/loudly on the telephone: an amplifier or inductive couplers (for use with the T-switch on your hearing aid). An amplified ringer on the telephone and extension bells in several rooms may help you hear the telephone ring. Flashing light devices to use with telephones are available and are similar to those used with doorbells.
Ask your Hearing Therapist for tips on telephone use or telephone training.
Textphones
For severely or profoundly deaf people a textphone may be useful. A textphone has a keyboard and small display screen so that you can type in conversations. You can use a textphone to call other textphone users directly. You can also use a textphone to talk to someone who only has a voice telephone by using Typetalk, the telephone relay service.
Videophones
Videophones allow you to see the caller using cameras. They are still relatively expensive but are becoming more popular. You may be able to adapt your home computer if you want a videophone at home.
Televisions
Listening devices are available to help with the TV. These include amplified headphones, loop systems and infra red systems. For profoundly deaf people and those not able to use the listening devices, teletext subtitling may be useful. It is accessible through a TV with a built in teletext facility (page 888) or a teletext adapter which is used with a normal TV set.
If you wish to record subtitled programmes on video you need either a video cassette recorder with built in subtitle record facility or a decoder in conjunction with a normal VCR.
For further information:
www.rnid.org.uk
www.royaldeaf.org.uk
www.bda.org.uk