Phone for work?

Lau2046

Lau2046

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I'm trying to (still) transfer to another office closer to home. The long and short, I'll need to use a phone which my current job doesn't require but my new employers will. My audiologist isn't too great with knowledge of these devices so she doesn't know what I can use on the job, just at home. I emailed Mass Rehab but I don't know if they'll want an appointment rather than just answer my question. Time is of the essence so I'm asking here since folks probably know more...

Does voice carry over or "caption call" work in an office setting?

Laura
 
Do you use a neckloop to talk on a cell phone using bluetooth? If so, there are ways to set this up with some office phones. Let me know and I'll see if I can find what I had at my last job.
 
I have M Dex which does activate bluetooth. My concern though is I worry about hearing/understanding accents, so naturally I'm gravitating towards something that allows me to see the response so I don't miss anything. My audi just doesn't know if such a thing exists for the office. Bluetooth is great for family and friends but I'm not sure how I'll fare dealing with people different backgrounds and languages. Being able to have a visual guide would take some of the pressure off.
 
Lau2046 said:
I have M Dex which does activate bluetooth. My concern though is I worry about hearing/understanding accents, so naturally I'm gravitating towards something that allows me to see the response so I don't miss anything. My audi just doesn't know if such a thing exists for the office. Bluetooth is great for family and friends but I'm not sure how I'll fare dealing with people different backgrounds and languages. Being able to have a visual guide would take some of the pressure off.
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I know what you mean. I can't understand accents either. Good luck on finding something that will work. (Though I wonder if a speech-to-text translator can understand the accents any better :lol: ).
 
Laura, do you mean one of these?

Image


Here's the website that came from:

http://shop.clarityproducts.com/products/clarity/ensemble/?cat=amplified-captioned-phones

I hope that maybe answers your question.
 
CB, unfortunately, the phone systems in offices use "special" phones, so this might not work for her.
 
Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about, thank you! I just hope to God it works in an office setting....maybe I'll hear from Mass Rehab tomorrow with a yea or nay on this type of phone for work. Thank you for the link.
 
LoveBlue said:
CB, unfortunately, the phone systems in offices use "special" phones, so this might not work for her.
Click to expand...

Hmm. I didn't think of that. Many jobs do have restrictions on landline phones, it is true. You may have a point there. Wish that wasn't the case, though.
 
Lau2046 said:
Didn't think of that, do offices use landlines?
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They use landlines, but they usually have "multi lines"?? so the wiring is different, so a house phone would not really work in an office environment. Of course, it depends on the office set up.

Something like this

Office-Phone.jpg
 
LoveBlue said:
They use landlines, but they usually have "multi lines"?? so the wiring is different, so a house phone would not really work in an office environment. Of course, it depends on the office set up.

Something like this

Office-Phone.jpg
Click to expand...

I just thought of something. Would it be possible to configure one of the ones with captioning as a work phone? If that can be done, then maybe it'll work out for her? Not sure if there are phone like those, though.
 
Businesses and government agencies often use integrated communications systems, meaning all the telephone components have to be compatible within the network. You might need to discuss this with their IT or Communications manager.
 
I don't know ASL so it needs to be captioned. Reba has a good point so as soon as I get an email for the Boston office, I'll ask about phone options. Thank you.
 
Reba said:
Businesses and government agencies often use integrated communications systems, meaning all the telephone components have to be compatible within the network. You might need to discuss this with their IT or Communications manager.
Click to expand...

That's want I wanted to say, but couldn't come up with the right wording. Thanks.
 
In addition some larger businesses(not sure on the government agencies may still use older PBX systems (I think that's right). I never got as far as asking about captioned phones or video relay (that wasn't on my radar at the time anyway) but I know they would always hem and haw when I asked about appropriate accommodations (like a flasher- they rigged up something at my first IT job) but I did get a 'inline' amplifier with my last job. Kind of sort of worked but the bigger issue was my speech discrimination & hearing accents (men accents were the worst).

Hope you get a good answer but most phone systems I used at work were like what Reba said- integrated; some were antiquated but many are now digital.
 
I did get a good answer. I reached out to Mass Rehab and another agency, Mass Comm for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing - a gentleman there, a bilateral cochlear implantee, totally related to what I said about hearing and understanding on the phone. Got right back to me with a slew of suggestions for what I could use and offered to speak with my employers to give them a 90 minute presentation - free - for how they could assist me with doing my duties, how the technology worked, etc. I'm thrilled. A boss of mine is just expecting an answer from me in short order and I had to fill out paperwork - more typical red tape. This is the first real break I've had. Very friendly and just gave me a very detailed email so until I get a form back from my doctor, at least I have something solid in the meantime.
 
Work Accomodations

What did you find? My work phone is exactly like the one you posted. It does nothing for me. I wish there was a caption service but I'm in Canada I don't believe it's available here.
 
Well, at the moment, the phone I found may be a no can do for the reasons that Reba cited, so I might be back to square one. I was also told about an app for captioning available for smartphones but they discontinued the service for Blackberry so it's probably not going to happen until I upgrade and I'm in no rush to lose the physical keyboard.
 
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