Can anyone recommend a deskphone headset with T-coil? My deskphone takes a 2mm adapter and since getting my HA’s I’m finding that I can hear better with the speakerphone than with my headset. Any ideas?
No thoughts on this?
Have you tried utilizing a small magnet on the handset to activate the T-Coil? COSTCO gave me a small one that sticks onto my office phone, and now it works.
Is that all it takes? I didn’t know that. I can probably buy a small magnet somewhere…
You can buy them from the forum sponsor:
I have just placed my order. Hopefully they accomplish what I want. Thank you!
Please let me know if this works. I am having difficulty with my home phone (cordless with volume controls, but no speakerphone), can’t get the volume high enough on the handset. Can only listen with one ear or the other. Would a magnet placed on the handset be all I need? then of course, have the audi activate the T-coil program?
I just received the magnets today. I put one in the headset earpiece and don’t notice any difference whatsoever. I know that t-coil is activated on my HA’s. So…Unless I’m doing something wrong although I can’t think of what it is the magnet idea is not working for me. I may start searching for t-coil ha compatible headsets tonight. I don’t want to spend the additional money but I spend a good part of my working day on conference calls and can honestly focus better using a headset vs speakerphone.
Where is the headset on your ear? If it’s in the usual orientation, with the speaker pointing into the ear, you may not notice any difference. It needs to be resting on the aid itself, not your ear canal, and the speaker of the headphone needs to be pointing at a mic on the aid.
A ComPilot, Plantronics MDA 200, and Plantronics SSP 2714-01 Network adapter - USB - Bluetooth 92714-01 would likely be a better choice for doing what you want to do. It’s what I plan to do when I trial a pair of Phonak Brio aids starting tomorrow.
A ComPilot is not an option I will consider at this time. I just don’t think the technology is worth the inconvenience. I tried moving the headphone around my ear while on a call and it made no difference. I know it was near my HA because the HA reset itself when I move the headphone near it.
I have the same HAs. My audiologist set up the Tcoil program for phone use. It can also have other setups optimized for public spaces etc. I think there were three types which could be used for the Tcoil program then be tweaked to your needs. Microphone inputs can be reduced or muted in this program.
She also designated it to be the easy phone program so it would be triggered by the magnets in phone handsets from my autosense program. I found that most phones don’t have a strong enough magnet to trigger the aid to go into this program so that is when you need the little Tcoil Reid switch activator magnets to stick to the phone speaker.
Your phones also need to contain a Tcoil. I gather that corded phones contain them but cordless ones may have them. Mine need the Tcoil turned on in the phone settings first. Mobiles don’t generally have aTcoil.
When the Tcoil is activated I hear the tones designated for that program chime. When it deactivates I hear the autosense program chime again to say the aids are back in my standard program. You may need to experiment with the position of the magnets in relation to your HA to trigger it if all else is set up and activated. It can be a bit tricky to get the right spot.
When I had the trial set without the Tcoil I had an Acoustic Phone program set up as the Easyphone option. This was quite difficult to get the magnet to keep it triggered but still have the speaker on the phone in the right spot for the HA to pick up the sound. During the trial I was at Costco shopping and tried an over the ear headset. To my surprise it triggered the Easycall mode. I don’t know if the headsets have a Tcoil or any are suitable for phone use. Probably a search online might tell you.
My first experiments with the Tcoil and phones yielded an annoying buzzing which made an otherwise clear speech signal less pleasant. I found that at first this seemed to happen with all the phones I tried and I nearly gave up. Since then I have had one instance when the speech was clear and the hum was almost inaudible. I don’t know if there is some trick to where to place the phone or if it depends on any interference.
Perhaps someone more experienced could weigh in with any tips for good reception.
Hi Carol,
My audi has confirmed that I do have the T-coil program set up but it’s not a separate program. She said it would just trigger when needed from my auto program. I do know that when I use my mobile phone (LG G4) and set it to turn on hearing aid compatibility that calls are clear and loud. No problems at all. I don’t believe my Panasonic deskphone has a t-coil program (at least there’s no setting for it that I can find) and I’m just using a very basic Plantronic headset so I doubt if that has t-coil either. I’d love to figure out a way to make all this work together as I spend so much time on the phone during the day and do get tired of the speakerphone (which sounds very clear actually).
For my deskphone at work (not an analog phone) I use a Plantronics MDA200 with the Bluetooth adapter (SSP2714-01). It also connects to the desktop computer. The MDA200 communicates with my hearing aid bluetooth device, Resound Phone Clip+. It works very well, is hands-free, and there is no interference.
I’m not an expert on t-coils, but doesn’t the handset have to have a magnet in it that processes sound through your hearing aid t-coil antenna? I don’t see how adding an external magnet will help the handset communicate. I understand it will put the hearing aid in t-coil mode, but the handset has to be able to drive the sound to your t-coil antenna.
I’m not sure how it works. All I know is I don’t want to buy a Compilot II.