From Doorbells to Alarm Clocks: Essential Tools for Cochlear Implant Users

Smart Devices That Keep You in the Loop

Worried you might miss an important call or message? With some smartphones, you can set the flash to go off when you receive a message. If you have a smartwatch connected to your phone, you can even set it to vibrate whenever you get a call or other notification. Many smartwatches are even comfortable enough to wear while you take a listening break while napping or even when you sleep at night.

Ding Dong! Someone’s at the Door

From deliveries to emergencies, it’s important to know if someone is at the door. One way to make your doorbell visible (rather than only audible) is with a strobe light doorbell. It flashes like some modern-day fire alarms do. This works if you are awake and charging your audio processors or having a listening break–but remember to keep your listening breaks to a minimum to make the most progress in your listening rehabilitation. But if you are asleep, having a doorbell that sends alerts to your phone (or your smartwatch, as mentioned above) could be very helpful.

Rise and Shine, Early Bird

If you live alone or don’t want to rely on someone else to wake you up, then you will need an alarm clock that can get your attention in a way other than ringing. The perfect solution is an alarm clock that vibrates.

You Don’t Have to Rely Solely on Your Parental Instincts

If you have young children, a baby monitor is a must-have. If your baby takes a nap during the day, you will probably be wearing your audio processors and will be able to hear them. If you need a listening break and your baby is in another room, a baby monitor with lights that indicate noise level could be perfect for you. You can relax while doing something else, and out of the corner of your eye, see if the lights on the baby monitor are flickering.

If your baby is very young and wakes up regularly during the night, the advice of this mom with rechargeable hearing aids may come in handy: she sleeps on her side while wearing a hearing aid on the ear not against the pillow while the other hearing aid is charging. When her baby wakes her up in the middle of the night, she puts on the hearing aid that has been charging and takes off the other one to let it charge. This idea will also work with your RONDO 3 or SONNET 2 rechargeable batteries.

Stay Safe While Traveling

If you stay at a hotel while traveling, consider letting the hotel staff know that you have hearing loss. You can also tell them that if there is an emergency, they have your permission to enter your room and wake you up. And find out more helpful travel tips.

Communication Help for Tired Ears

After a long day, it’s common to have listening fatigue. Even with your audio processors on, you may struggle to hear things that are normally easy to understand. When this is the case, there are many devices and tricks you can use to make communication easier, including:

• A remote mic like AudioLink can help you hear conversation partners who are sitting further away. Learn more about AudioLink.
• If you talk on the phone with your friends when you have listening fatigue, video chatting may help. That way you can understand them more easily by watching their facial expressions and reading their lips.
• In some situations, you may find it helpful to use a transcription app. And in the future, you may even be able to use transcription glasses.

And check out this article for great gift ideas for cochlear implant users. We hope these tips and tricks help you navigate tricky, silent situations… until you can put on your MED-EL audio processors again and get back to hearing life!