By Becky Montgomery

When I was teaching, we teachers would gather at the end of a term for “Not Necessarily Amazing,” a quick time for us to share ideas for what actually worked in the classroom. I got lots of good ideas from those sessions, really helpful stuff that my friends had actually tried out.

These ideas came to me as I was reading a handout from a hearing loss workshop at Panorama Continuing Care Retirement Community in Lacey. The workshop was presented by HLAA-WA Board Members Carolyn Odio and Heidi Crabtree. Heidi’s outstanding handout is linked here, and I really encourage you to read and download it. She shares some “Not Necessarily Amazing” but extremely helpful ideas for people who can’t always hear well on their phones.

What’s on the Handout

This is a collection of “how to use it” instructions for some very handy things to help people with hearing loss:

• A listening app, HeardThat. This app clarifies the sound your phone picks up. Among other things, it filters out dreaded background noises.
• Instructions for finding and loading built-in apps for creating live captions.
• Suggestions for external microphones that let your phone pick up sounds that are a little further away.

If you have a hearing loss, which apps do you use for your phone? Let us know in the comments below.

HLAA-WA does not endorse one product over another. The information is provided as a firsthand experience from our community members We support the full spectrum of hearing technologies.

About the author

Becky Montgomery writes about living with hearing loss from a very personal place – she has progressive hearing loss. She managed with hearing aids for 20-odd years but now wears bilateral cochlear implants.

Becky is now retired and works hard at catching up on her reading and movie watching. In the past, she worked at Microsoft, where she was deeply involved in the company’s Employee Resource Group for Disability. She’s also a former HLAA-WA Board member.