Devices such as headphones can make sound stronger and easier to hear.
More than 37 million adults in the United States have at least some difficulty hearing, according to the Mayo Clinic. Hearing impairment happens as a result of genetics, time and a lifetime of loud noises that damage the inner ear. While damage-related hearing loss is irreversible, a number of devices can help make life easier for the hearing impaired.
Lighted Alarms and Video Monitors
Many alarms--burglar alarms, smoke alarms, carbon-monoxide alarms--use high-pitched frequencies to alert people of a potential problem. But because they rely on sound, they may prove ineffective to someone who has difficulty hearing or has severe or complete hearing loss. For this reason, manufacturers make alarms that alert a hearing-impaired person through the use of lights. These are used both in the home and in the workplace, according to the National Fire Protection Association. They're also used in technology such as baby monitors; rather than relaying the sound of the baby's cries, the monitor will produce a light telling the parent that the child has made noise or may require attention. Video monitors may also help.
Amplifiers
Telephones can be difficult not just for the deaf, but also for those who have mild to severe hearing loss. Amplifiers can help by boosting the volume on the voices of both people speaking. Higher volume in the earpiece allows a person to understand what's being said, and a higher voice output allows that person to control the volume of their voice. Manufacturers make amplifiers for corded and cordless phones, as well as cell phones.
For watching television, people with hearing loss may choose to use headphones or ear buds; they block interfering noise and channel the TV's sound more directly into their ears.
Hearing Aids
Hearing aids make sounds stronger and therefore easier for a damaged inner ear to hear, according to the Mayo Clinic. They come in two types: custom-made and molded devices provided by an audiologist, and relatively less expensive microphone-over-the-ear devices commonly found in electronics stores. Hearing aids can range from $60 to $2,500, according to Consumer Affairs magazine.
TDDs
Telecommunications Devices for the Deaf came about in the mid 1960s when James Marsters, a deaf inventor, combined the concepts of the telephone and typewriter. The resulting device was a precursor to modern-day text messaging: the ability to send short written messages over telephone lines. Cell phones and Internet-based messaging (email, instant message services) have made TDDs less relevant, if not obsolete, but, according to Marsters' obituary in the New York Times, his technology was the first to allow the deaf to communicate independently over the telephone.
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