Hearing loss is often misunderstood and misrepresented amongst the general public. The degrees and types of hearing loss vary greatly, yet often when people think of hearing disorders or hearing loss, they think of people who are born Deaf. However, there is a wide spectrum of people who are not Deaf but have some degree of hearing, which can occur as a result of noise exposure, head trauma, ototoxic drugs, neurological disorders, or just plain natural aging. The gradual and progressive loss of hearing associated with aging is called presbycusis. Contributing causes of this type of hearing loss are often a cumulative effect of environmental noise, a natural loss of inner ear hair cells over time, hereditary factors, as well as overall health and possible side effects of medications, such as aspirin and antibiotics.

There are many types and degrees of hearing loss. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders there are about 28 million Americans with some degree of hearing loss, ranging from mild to severe and approximately 1 in 3 people over age 65 have hearing loss, while about half of people 75 and older have hearing loss; yet, only 1 in 5 people who could benefit from a hearing aid actually wears one. While there are a wide variety of types of hearing loss, presbycusis is the most common type, affecting millions of Americans. The ability to communicate is an incredibly important factor in the quality of one’s life, and while some people with a hearing loss seek help and rehabilitation, there are many who go undiagnosed and untreated. Sadly, issues such as societal attitudes surrounding hearing loss, cost of hearing aids and the stigma attached to wearing them often prevents or delays people with hearing loss from seeking help.

To improve one’s function and quality of life, effective communication is essential. There are often negative feelings associated with hearing loss including frustration, embarrassment and isolation. Many older adults with presbycusis or other hearing losses may experience a desire to withdrawal from social engagements and other interactions because of their difficulty communicating. Oftentimes, these adults will struggle with making or receiving phone calls because they cannot hear well and without the benefit of facial and environmental cues and lip-reading, talking on the phone can be a daunting challenge for those with even a mild hearing loss. This is where phone captioning comes in. Many people with hearing loss have benefited from closed-captioning and subtitles while watching TV and films. These same people will now find a similar benefit in phone captioning.

As technologies which assist people with hearing loss continue to improve, there is an expanding number of sophisticated devices and services that provide opportunities for people who have hearing loss to communicate more effectively. Phone captioning is a free, federally funded captioning telephone service that sends voice dialogue via text through the internet or phone service, displaying the text on a web page or on your personal digital assistant (PDA), such as the iPhone, Blackberry or IP (internet protocol) phone. Using PhoneCaption you may make or receive calls through a specially trained operator who provides a transcription of the conversation in captions for the person with the hearing loss either on an internet connected computer screen or a PhoneCaption supported PDA, such as the types listed above. Messages sent through PhoneCaption are in near real time and allow you to make multiple calls or conference calls, as well as the ability to browse the internet while making a call.

To use PhoneCaption you must first sign up (www.phonecaption.com) for no charge and receive your personalized 800-number. This number is yours to keep and give out to whomever you’d like to communicate with. To make calls you simply log into your account and dial your personalized number followed by the number you would like to call and the captioned text will then appear on your web browser or PDA. Receiving calls is just as simple; ask your callers to dial your personalized number and log in to receive the captioned text.

There are millions of people with hearing loss in America and more still that have not been diagnosed. It is important to be screened annually for a hearing loss because hearing aids or other assistive devices may be helpful. PhoneCaption is an excellent way for older adults with presbycusis or other hearing losses to communicate more effectively. PhoneCaption is a free service, is easy and incredibly helpful for anyone with a hearing loss who wishes to communicate more efficiently and reliably on the phone.