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Advanced Bionics Europe

Telephone listening presents one of the greatest challenges for implant recipients.
Due to the total absence of visual cues, the listener must rely exclusively on audition to comprehend the spoken message. Developing telephone listening skills will therefore take application and time, even for those who have some previous telephone experience.

Your audiologist may be able to help you in designing a rehabilitation program designed to develop your telephone competence. Telephone rehabilitation includes training in the use of the telephone alone and with its accessories, and exercises to assist you in identifying the telephone's dialing tone, engaged tone, ringing tone, and when a person or the answer phone has picked up. Specific strategies are taught to improve understanding over the phone. These begin with very basic exercises and the use of telephone "codes" for those with minimal telephone skills. Even if you cannot understand words over the phone, you may still perceive word patterns. In this way you can establish a simple telephone code with your partner, allowing you to communicate in a limited fashion over the phone.

"Practice, Practice, Practice! "
"Play with the volume and sensitivity controls with abandon."
"Practice helps build up confidence which is important if you are going to be comfortable using the telephone."
"I ask others to talk slowly and clearly, then I understand and adjust the volume accordingly."
"I listened to recorded messages like the time, weather and sports reports and now I talk to everyone."

CI user : Honey, did you remember to pick up the dry-cleaning?
Wife: Yes, Yes, Yes (3 syllable pattern)
CI user: Did you want me to go to the bank on the way home?
Wife: No (one syllable)
CI user: Oh, you already took some cash out for dinner tonight?
Wife: Yes, Yes, Yes (3 syllable pattern)

In the beginning, training exercises may comprise discrimination of words from a known list, such as colors or numbers. Gradually, training can progress to include planned conversations with familiar speakers, (where you have a written script of both sides of the conversation, and insert your lines in the correct place in the conversation,) to the most challenging task of understanding unpredictable conversations with strangers. It is important to be assertive and to make specific suggestions to callers to improve communication on the telephone, such as asking the caller to slow down a little, talk louder/softer or to rephrase a sentence for you. You should also check your understanding frequently by saying: "Let me repeat that back to you to make sure I heard you correctly."

"Since getting my portable telephone, I can text-message all my friends without worrying about misunderstanding their replies."

Telephone Alternatives

Nowadays, thanks to the communications technology boom, there are a host of alternatives to using a voice telephone. Two-way pagers and fax machines can be very useful when direct telephone calls are not an option. Another indispensable tool is the personal computer with its email system and access to the Internet. Personal Desk Assistants (PDAs) can also be used for wireless email.