Mom is so deaf she can't hear on the phone (she also pushes the phone hard against her ear so the hearing aid doesn't work - we've been telling her to hold it a few inches away for years, but it does not compute!) I thought we might try one of those phones that spells out the conversation so she can read it. I was hoping to find a charity that loans them - we can't afford to buy something like that, only to find out her comprehension is so bad that the phone doesn't help.
As an alternative, consider a Presto (I do not have any financial interest in this company). It's an offshoot of HP. It's a printing email box. A selected group of friends can send Mom emails and pictures. Five times a day the little thing calls the service center and picks up any emails and then prints them out for Mom to read. Only thing she (or someones else) has to do is put paper in and put a cartridge in now and then. It works really well for sending photographs and for sending reminders about what's coming up for the day. It prints your phone # out on top so she can call you if she has something to say about it. She's losing her ability to read but even then I can just send pictures on it for her to enjoy. She just doesn't use the phone that much any more.
My mother would be reading it and then silence while she processed what they were saying - and then the one on the other end of the line would wonder what had happened ( "Did I say something to upset you? Can you not hear me?")
If you can read fairly fast, it would work ok.
We tried it, and my mother could not read fast enough to keep up!
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