Catégorie : English Auditory

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Set Up Your iPhone 5 or newer with “LiNX” Hearing Aids by ReSound

Description

The “hearing aid” option in the iPhone accessibility settings allows you to modify the acoustic settings of the phone and guaranteies a better compatibility with hearing aids operating in telecoil mode with inductive coupling.

This is the case for hearing aids by ReSound, which recently came out into the market (May 2014) with the LiNX model “made for iPhone.”

These devices allow a direct connection, without any third-party tools, between your hearing device and the smartphone or tablet through the “hearing aid” setting that you can find in the “accessibility settings.”

ReSound also has their own downloadable proprietary application on the App Store for free. It is called ReSound Smart. It contains additional settings such as: low/high adjustments and geolocation, which is practical for finding your devices.

Concrete Example:

Aline, who has suffereds from a loss of hearing for many years, was just hired. During her first meeting, she wanted to adjust the volume of her hearing aid. Before, she would have had to modify it manually on the device itself, which would reveal to others that she had an auditory impairment. Today, Aline is equipped with LiNX hearing aids, which allows her to precisely modify her hearing aids through her iPhone discretely.

How to Access Auditory Accessibility Settings

Settings/General/Accessibility/Hearing Aids

Apple collaborates with the best manufacturers to present hearing aids “made for iPhone” that are energy-efficient, which benefits high quality digital audio. These are detected by the iPhone exclusively without needing any additional devices.

In theory, hearing devices “made for iPhone” can provide two useful functions:

• Wireless connection between hearing devices and smartphones.
• iPhone accessibility for hearing aid settings. (Use your iPhone to access and adjust the hearing settings.)

Attention
iPad and iPod also possess “hearing aid” options which only allows the detection of devices “made for iPhone.”

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Connected Hearing Aids

Since the arrival of iOS 7, Apple provides a control panel that allows you to interact direction with hearing aids labeled “Made for iPhone” in their accessibility settings.

Thanks to this control panel, the person can interact with the volume and on the sound reception, see the remaining battery power, etc. through your smartphone without removing their hearing aid.

Many hearing aid manufacturers have created their own applications that personalize the settings of their hearing devices. These can be used independently from Apple’s control panel menu.

Image: A picture of two menu screens from the TruLink application.

The TruLink application is made by the manufacturer StarKey, which is also comprised of the American brands: Audibel, Audigy Micro-tech, NuEar, and StarKey.

The manufacturer ReSound also has an application dedicated for their LiNX devices.

They are classified into two groups: those that connect through a third-party tool, and those that connect directly. The Bluetooth technology used here is the “Bluetooth LE” (also known as 4.0 or Smart) for Low Energy. It is supposed to be safe for your health while allowing you to save the battery power of your hearing aids. Meanwhile, those that connect through a third-party tool like a “phone clip” use 2.4 GHz wave signals.

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Android Settings for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired

The settings that Android offers for people with hearing impairment are grouped into four subgroups:

• Audio balance
• Mono audio
• Deactivate all sounds
• Flash notification

You can find these settings in:

Settings/My Device/Accessibility/Audio settings

Audio balance is just left/right balance of the audio device. It allows you to personalize the balance for better listening comfort.

Mono audio merges the stereo sound channels into a single mono channel.

Deactivating all sounds makes your smartphone mute. You will not hear anything, not even the voice of callers.

Flash notification is a feature that blinks the flash of the camera to indicate that you have received a notification. To stop the blinking, you just turn the device over.

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iPad, iPod, iPhone for people who are deaf and hearing impaired

Mono Audio

The iPad, iPod, and iPhone can direct auditory content from left and right audio channels in both earpieces. This allows users with a hearing impairment in one ear to listen to both audio channels in each ear simultaneously.

You can also modify the audio balance between both left and right audio channels.

Settings/General/Accessibility/Mono Audio

Messages with iMessage

Send unlimited messages with iMessage (without a subscription). Share videos, photos, locations and websites with friends. And thanks to group messaging, everyone can stay updated.

Settings/Message/iMessage

Flash LED for Notifications

Make your device’s LED diode blink to alert you of incoming calls and notifications. Or, make incoming calls display a full picture of the caller on the screen.

Settings/General/Accessibility/LED Flash for Alerts

Ambient Noise Suppression

The suppression of ambient noise reduces parasitic sounds when you are in a call in a noisy environment.

Settings/General/Accessibility/Phone Noise Cancellation

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