Can You Be Heard and Can You Hear?
There are two major contact points of communication with the wide, wide world; one is the door the other is a phone. There are a few things you should check out about these systems if you want to successfully age in place.
1. Can you hear the doorbell from all areas of your home?
2. Can you be heard by the person at the door from all areas of your home, especially if there is any reason it takes a slightly longer time for you to reach the door?
In considering #1 is your doorbell’s audibility sufficient to be heard over the decibel level of your TV or radio? The bell like ding dong type can be drowned out by a loud TV while a buzzer type is likely to penetrate other sounds.
Since we don’t want you to fall down the stairs or trip over an area rug racing to answer the doorbell, have you considered if your voice can penetrate sufficiently so that the person standing at the door can hear your voice telling them that you are coming? If you tend to be at a distance from the door and are slow to arrive there from that spot you might consider a voice amplifier. There are many to choose from on the Internet.
The next device requiring hearing and being heard is the telephone.
Personally I always listen to the caller on the speaker function since it allows me to be hands free and amplifies the voice. If the caller really has a soft voice, I put the speaker volume next to my ear to hear.
Again phones requiring attaching to the wall or a router have to be evaluated in terms of distance to reach them. Most of us now have mobile phones and I tend to give that number rather than my home number because the mobile phone is more likely to be near me. A cell phone lanyard strap is a good item to have when you are moving around the home and want to have your cell phone nearby. They are inexpensive around $10 and easy to get on the Internet.
For more tips and tricks to successful aging go to www.laughingalltheway.net