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Mobile phones & hearing aid users - your views wanted Many hearing aid wearers have great difficulty in using or even find it impossible to use digital mobile phones. To discover the scale of the problem and to propose action, a research project funded by Hearing Concern has been launched in association with the Telecommunications Action Group (TAG). They want to hear from any hearing aid wearer who has tried to use a mobile phone. "It is appalling to think that up to three million hearing aid users in the UK may not be able to use digital mobile phones in the conventional way," said Jim Pothecary of Hearing Concern's Telecoms Committee. "We need to establish the extent and nature of the problem and to promote action to remedy the situation, otherwise a whole section of the community risks being isolated from future telephone technology." Electrical interference between hearing aids and digital mobile phones is the source of the problem, but its effects can be very varied. Some have found ways around the problem, but others have given up trying to use digital phones. Analogue mobile phones can be used by some hearing aid wearers without difficulty, but these phones are being phased out and are already difficult to obtain. The Nokia Neck Loop has been introduced to combat the problem hearing aid users face with mobile phones, but it has not completely removed the problem and is only available for a very limited range of Nokia mobile phones. The researchers want to hear from hearing aid users about their experiences
with mobile phones. To become involved in the project and receive more
information, contact: Voice Text Network - VTN The VTN, which will enable textphone users to log on to Typetalk more quickly and simplify billing procedures, is to be known as the Voice Text Network. BT who are developing the network thinks that this new name (replacing 'Virtual Text Network') is a more accurate description. Did you know that calls to 0800 numbers from mobile phones are not free? So, calls to the Typetalk 0800 number from mobile phones are charged and therefore mobile phone users are being charged twice. The issue is a tricky one, but TAG is investigating. Textphones for rent - coming this spring. Textphones for rent should be available in the spring of this year. BT has received tenders from four or five companies and expects to place a contract in March or April. The rental textphones should be available soon afterwards. The rental textphones are expected to offer only basic functions so that the rental costs can be minimised. They will be available to anyone - individuals, charities, local authorities, and companies. To ensure that the rental textphones will be available at a reasonable cost, it is thought that BT may reduce its usual mark-up on the product. TAG is particularly pleased by the initiative and hopes that the relatively low cost of these textphones will encourage both deaf and hearing people to become text users, thereby improving communication possibilities for all deaf people. Disappearing text payphones? Have you noticed if any text payphones have gone missing recently? Waterloo station used to have two, but they seem to have disappeared in a recent refurbishment of the main concourse. Please tell TAG if you know of their whereabouts and if any other text payphones have suffered the same fate. Need help choosing a phone? New guide for older and disabled customers A free consumer guide Choosing a telephone - if you are older or disabled has been launched by Ricability, an independent consumer research charity that provides information on products and services for older and disabled consumers, writes Caroline Jacobs. Ricability picked out a range of 20 standard phones with features likely to make them useful to older and disabled users. They included fixed, cordless and mobile phones. Their technical performance was tested by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People and the phones were put through their paces by over 50 older and disabled consumers. The new guide reports on which phones did best in all the tests. It identifies particular features to look out for, gives details of specialist equipment and sources of further help and advice. Of particular interest to Sequel readers is the confirmation that the digital cordless and mobile phones assessed could not be used with hearing aids due to substantial interference. However, with the Nokia nk702 (similar models include the 6110 and 6150) there is a way around this problem, with an optional neckloop. Using the neckloop, the phone worked successfully with a hearing aid. Another interesting finding was that several models performed better in the technical tests than the user tests. Many users preferred the phones which were easiest to use, even when their technical performance was lower than average. Two versions of the new guide are available - full (24 pages) and summary (4 pages). Both are also available on request in large print, audio cassette and Braille. To receive a copy send a large SAE to: Ricability Phone Guide 24 Highbury Crescent London N5 1RX Send a 40p stamp for the full guide, a 19p stamp for the summary report. Mobile phone package for text users A tailored mobile phone package for deaf textphone users has been developed by Vodafone in co-ordination with the Deaf Studies Trust, based in Bristol. The package promotes the Nokia 9110 mobile phone, which looks like an ordinary mobile phone on the outside, but opens up to reveal a keyboard. The phone works with fax, the Internet, the Short Message Service (SMS) and other data communications. There are special tariffs for users wanting only data traffic - £5.88 per month with charges of about 21p per minute peak rate and 5p per minute off-peak for data calls and 12p for each SMS. Contact Vodafone: Fax 01295 815030 Email talkcare@vodafone-retail.co.uk Bob Twitchen appointed chairman of DIEL Bob Twitchin has been appointed Chairman of DIEL, following the retirement of Jean Gaffin. DIEL is one of OFTEL's Advisory Committees on Telecommunications (ACT) and focuses on the needs of disabled and elderly people. Bob, a wheelchair user, is a consultant on disability issues following a career with BT and ICI. Bob will probably be the last chair of DIEL because the advisory committees will be replaced - probably within two years - by the Telecommunications Consumer Council (TCC). He wants to ensure that the new TCC will ensure the continuation of DIEL's comprehensive work. Who's calling - fax, textphone or voice? Call Sign can help If you use a combination of fax, textphone or voice on the same telephone line, how can you tell what sort of call is being made? Call Sign, a new facility from BT, allows you to have two telephone numbers working on one telephone line. For example one number could be the fax number and another could be the textphone number. Depending on the number which is dialled, the ringing tone or the flashing light varies, so you can tell whether it is the fax number or the textphone number which is ringing. Of course you do something similar by installing an extra telephone line, but that is much more expensive. Call Sign costs only an additional £4.00 per quarter. However, you may need to check that your receiving phone can handle the different Call Sign ringing tones and/or flashing lights. There are lots of different uses for Call Sign. It was originally designed for households where the individuals could each have a different number and know by the sound of the ring who the call is for. Call Sign can also be used to distinguish business calls from personal calls. For deaf people, Call Sign can be used to solve a problem which has been lurking around for years - what sort of call is coming in? Last autumn, Call Sign was demonstrated by BT Age and Disability and the Midlands Regional Association for the Deaf at Walsall Deaf Centre and Leicester Centre for Deaf People. By all accounts it caused considerable interest. For further details on Call Sign, contact: Tel: 0800 800150 (voice) 0800 243 123 (text) Does Nokia's neckloop work in poor reception areas? In the Autumn 1999 Sequel, we reported that a hearing aid user had experienced very bad interference problems when using her Nokia neck loop with her digital mobile phone in an area with poor mobile phone reception (the neck loop is designed to avoid interference between hearing aids and mobile phones). Rob Jackson of RNID's Technical Department says that a possible reason for the interference might be that in areas of poor reception, the digital GSM phone would automatically adjust its radiated power level to compensate for the conditions, thereby increasing the likelihood of interference in the aid. This is certainly a point to watch out for when choosing a mobile phone network provider. Would you like an application form for Sequel? Would you like an application form for Sequel? Contact: Roger Hewitt Sequel 1A Southlake Parade Kingfisher Drive Woodley Reading RG5 3SJ |
