Amplified phones are designed to help you enjoy telephone conversations more easily by boosting the volume of the caller's voice.   Hearing Resources offers a wide variety of amplified phones ranging from simple mild-gain volume boost to powerful enhanced models that not only boost the volume but allow for tone adjustment to help improve clarity. 

Things to consider when selecting a phone

How much amplification is needed?

For people with a mild hearing loss generally use phones with the gain between 12 to 26 dB.  Individuals with mild PTA's but having a sharp high-frequency drop should look at about 30 dB with a tone control or high frequency enhancement.  People with moderate hearing loss are recommended to use a phone between 30 and 43 dB of gain.  People with severe hearing loss need a phone providing a minimum gain of 48 dB or greater.  People with Profound hearing loss may not find much help with just an amplified phone.  Those wanting to try the phone should consider the TeleTalker or one of the high gain phones that has an audio jack that can be used for a neckloop to couple both hearing aids (if hearing aids are equipped with telecoils) to the phone or insert earphone that will allow a person to use both ears on the telephone.

Do you hear some sounds better than others on the phones?

Many of the phones offer tone control to screen out background noises and adjust for higher or lower frequency emphasis.  If you have difficulty understanding women's or higher-pitched voices on the phone, choose a model that offers tone control to adjust for high-frequency sounds.

Why do some phones require an external power source and some do not?

The telephone line voltage is relativity weak. 

There is not enough energy provided by the telephone line to power some of the higher gain phones.  To supply the energy needed an outside source is needed.  This is why all of the higher gain phones, having a gain level greater than 30 dB, use a 120v AC wall transformer for the energy source.