Need recommendation/advice

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TLS60

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Hi.

I am a lead engineer for a power company with a profound hearing loss. I can hear noise with ahearing aid but cannot understand the words, however I lipread very well which is my choice of communication. I have an offer for another position at the supervisory level but this postion requires a lot of phone calls, conference calls (webex) and meetings. I do not do well in meetings with small groups even, I can only communicate one on one.

I know there are options utilizing relay services, etc. What I would like is recommendations of which to look into, pros and cons, etc. Any advice, recommendations, etc. will be appreciated. Thanks

Tim
 
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Hi Tim.. Is the employer who offered you the new position aware of your difficulties with these situations? If they are and are committed to working with you then I'd probably pursue it if it's a good move for you. (I'm of the opinion that one needs to be fully forthcoming with one's limitations up front, as opposed to trying to get into a position and then revealing any issues.)

But, I'd personally be reluctant to put myself in a position in which I'd feel unable to meet the requirements, absent a commitment from the company (Recently I turned down a business trip overseas because I simply can't handle accents. I let a subordinate go in my place. Of course he had a blast. But I knew it'd have been a problem for me.)
 
Hi, Tim! I agree with PinballWiz, above. As for relay services, that can work some, but also, be aware that not everything is captioned correctly. I have found my captioned phone is not always accurate, it has limitations, and usually on each conversation. If people are speaking too fast to you, are not enunciating plainly, or if some of the words are not very familiar (such as doctor's office terminology), the relay is not always accurate. Because of that, my husband still handles many of my phone calls to the doctor's office, dentist, etc. because I need more reliability. I would be hesitant to recommend that a relay service would be really beneficial to you. However, there are numerous people here who work in an office, use the phone, etc., so hopefully they will have some good advice for you to think over.
 
To add to what rosecottage mentioned regarding captioning...I experimented with some speech to text apps to possibly assist with meetings, conference calls, etc. I was utilizing a studio quality mic that a friend lent to me. What I found was that in perfect conditions the speech to text might work well enough to fill in the blanks for casual conversation, but it failed miserably for anything where detail is important. Like you, I'm in a technical field where there is a lot of lingo and jargon tossed about. It was 100% useless for that, though it could be comical to read back the text later.

Will you have people reporting to you? What I try to do with meetings and phone calls is have one of my staff there with me to insure that (a) I don't miss anything, and (b) to make sure that what I think I heard is actually what was said. It's surprising the number of times that I was certain that I heard one thing, only to be told by my admin that no, it was something else. Thinking that you're heard something correctly can be worse than knowing that you didn't hear it at all.
 
Tim,

We created a software solution just for this need. SpeechPath allows hard of hearing individuals to place and receive phone calls in the work place. it also can be used for meetings and conferences. Have your company contact us (current employer or new) and we can get them set up. SpeechPath converts the return voice path to text. This is machine based, so there is no third person in the middle of the call, which companies like for security and privacy purposes. Also, SpeechPath is 90% plus accurate and instantly populates (no delay in the text showing up on your screen).

Gary Tanner
NexTalk, Inc.
www.nextalk.com
801-274-6001
 
PinballWiz - The new position is within the company I currently work for and they know me well. During the interview I expressed my hearing concerns regarding weekly meeting and conference calls and that I would look into it to see what my options are. I certainly do not want to burden others and put even more stress on myself but the new position is really some thing I want and offers many new technical challenges. If the technology isn't there to accurately relay converstations during meetings and conference calls, I would have no choice but to turn down the offer. I figure many on this site have faced the same issues and thought it would be the best place to ask.

Thanks for the responses.
 
TLS60 said:
PinballWiz - The new position is within the company I currently work for and they know me well. During the interview I expressed my hearing concerns regarding weekly meeting and conference calls and that I would look into it to see what my options are. I certainly do not want to burden others and put even more stress on myself but the new position is really some thing I want and offers many new technical challenges. If the technology isn't there to accurately relay converstations during meetings and conference calls, I would have no choice but to turn down the offer. I figure many on this site have faced the same issues and thought it would be the best place to ask.

Thanks for the responses.
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The fact that this is within your current company and that they're aware of your hearing issues is excellent. Just knowing that much makes me inclined to encourage you to take it. :)

Best of luck. I'm not familiar with the SpeechPath product mentioned above, but I'd reiterate that I've not had much luck with speech to text for technical type translation. Do report back in you try that one.
 
Hi Gary,

Thanks for the response. Although I work for a power company here in Maine USA, we are owned by a Spanish company (Avangrid). I can assure you they will not contact you (long story). I would have to demonstrate to them that this product will work for me and convince them to buy into it. Do you have an trial app or anything that can be used for demonstration purposes? Your website does not explain how your product works or if it can be used for meetings or conference calls. All I see is prices, translation and TTY. Please provide more information so I can determine if this would work for me.
 
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Hello All and to TLS60!
What is the status of your research into software that allows hard of hearing individuals to place and receive phone calls in the work place and be used for meetings and conferences. Does Skype have any benefits especially for oversea calls? Anyone? I looked up Captel but people say its not working anymore. I see that Google has speech to text software but don't see any deaf communities mention it. Does anyone have experience with Sprint's WebCap? Thank you all for your time.
 
I did not have much luck. I tried AVA in a video conference and the word were too scrambled to follow along. I don't beleive you will find speech to text software that is where it needs to be for our use.
 
TLS60, I'm curious did you set up AVA to other co-workers during the conference? or you just hold your AVA next to the speaker?
 
Try InnoCaption.com. It’s a app that you put on your smartphone. 98% accurate.
 
raee said:
Try InnoCaption.com. It’s a app that you put on your smartphone. 98% accurate.
Click to expand...

I also like InnoCaption real well but it is just for phone calls. You have to have called someone or they have to have called you.
 
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