Staying Connected & Engaged with Hearing Loss

Today, we bring you a compelling discussion with Elissa Moran, the dynamic outreach manager at Florida Telecommunications Relay, Inc. (FTRI). Elissa’s personal drive stems from her experiences with her late husband, who was deaf and communicated via American Sign Language. In this engaging episode, Elissa joins our host, Darleen Mahoney, to explore the nuanced challenges faced by seniors with hearing loss.

Together, they navigate the critical importance of keeping seniors connected, not just for social interaction but for emotional well-being and cognitive health. Elissa sheds light on the profound effect that isolation resulting from impaired communication can have, diminishing one's world and impacting safety, especially during events like Florida's frequent hurricanes. She emphasizes the powerful role that technology and adaptive devices play in bridging communication gaps, from amplified phones to captioning tools. They also tackle the often-overlooked societal stigma surrounding hearing aids, pushing for a cultural shift towards normalizing their use as we have with eyeglasses.

Packed with heartfelt anecdotes, professional insights, and pragmatic advice, this episode is a treasure trove of information for those seeking to understand and improve communication for the hearing impaired. Whether it's advocating for better acceptance of hearing loss aids or knowing where to access state resources, Elissa and Darleen provide listeners with the tools and motivation to ensure no one has to navigate the world without hearing the voices of those they love. Join us for this enlightening and deeply personal conversation about connectivity, identity, and the resilience of the human spirit.

SeniorLivingGuide.com Podcast sponsored by: GoGo Grandparent and TransMedCare Long Distance Medical Transportation

Florida Telecommunications Relay, Inc (FTRI), Enhancing the lives of Florida Residents since 1991 through its free Amplified Phone Program.

Telecommunications Equipment Distribution Program Association

The background music is written, performed and produced exclusively by purple-planet.com.

https://www.purple-planet.com/

*SeniorLivingGuide.com Webinars and Podcast represents the opinions and expertise of our guests. The content here is for informational and educational purposes. It does not necessarily represent the views, recommendations, opinions or advice of Fairfax Publishing/SeniorLivingGuide.com or its employees

Transcript

Darleen Mahoney [00:00:19]:

And today we welcome to the Senior LivingGuide.com podcast, Elissa Moran. And she is currently the outreach manager for Florida Telecommunications Relay, Inc. Also known as FTRI, which is a nonprofit agency founded in 1991 for the purpose of administering Florida's free Amplified Phone program. She was drawn to working with deaf and hard of hearing people in 1998 after meeting her late husband who was deaf and communicated in American Sign Language. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Elissa Moran [00:01:01]:

Thank you, Darleen. It's a pleasure to be here.

Darleen Mahoney [00:01:03]:

Absolutely. I'm really excited to talk about this subject because I know that this is something we really haven't discussed as seniors age or they're born with hearing loss. Communication is clearly something that's important to all of us, but seniors specifically, because sometimes, like, their worlds can kind of get smaller. And it's such an important part of keeping folks engaged and energized and even keeping their mind healthy. It's just, it's social. It's who we are. It's something how we need to. It makes us alive, right?

 Elissa Moran [00:01:46]:

Oh, my goodness, yes. Not only do you and I enjoy chatting in person, we are talkers.

 Darleen Mahoney [00:01:53]:

I already decided. We are talkers.

 Elisssa Moran [00:01:55]:

We are talkers. And so we've had this wonderful conversation leading up to this segment. And just imagine if neither of us could hear really well and how difficult that would be. And so you go, okay, well, that's no problem. I'll just pick up my phone. I can text because we live in a text based world right now, but that's not always the best. So when I started to prepare for this and I thought, oh, why do I want to make a phone call if I can just text? I mean, sometimes don't you have two text conversations going on simultaneously? You couldn't do that on the phone, but I wouldn't be able to hear my mom's voice or my son's voice through texting. I can't hear their voice.

 ElissaMoran [00:02:33]:

So I want to talk to them on the phone. I want to hear their voice in person. And I don't know, you know, telemedicine, that's great, but sometimes you need a little bit more. You might have to call in and get your records or you have to call in for some directions for a medical situation. Well, you, you really want to make sure you can hear well on the phone then. And that might not be something that you can text. So there's a lot of different times that we might not want to use text spacing, text based communications, especially for aging in place Especially for aging in place because so many seniors, folks who are wanting to stay in their homes as they become older. Well, phone becomes really critical for a couple of reasons.

 Elissa Moran [00:03:17]:

Safety relation number one, I am speaking to you from Florida. You are very familiar with Florida and what happens here is hurricanes and I have people who don't live in Florida who care very much about what happens to me here. So I need to be able to call them and tell them I'm okay after that hurricane has come through. That's huge. The other piece that happens is, you know, a lot of senior agencies do phone check ins with their folks that they're serving so that they will do daily calls to Mrs. Brown to see how she's doing. Well, when Mrs. Brown doesn't answer the phone, that becomes a little bit of a problem.

 Elissa Moran [00:03:50]:

And that's the same for if it's an in home care person that's showing up at Mrs. Brown's home also to provide some support if Mrs. Brown doesn't answer the door. Well, protocol says you try and call her, make sure she's okay. If she doesn't answer the phone, you don't go home and say I've got some free time. I wasn't planning on. You have to try and find out what's going on with Mrs. Brown.

 Elissa Moran [00:04:13]:

Is she okay, is she not okay? And that's where the telephone is huge. Not just the telephone, but some of the specialized adaptive phones that are out on the market that provide additional signaling components meaning the phone rings and lights flash. So if she can't hear it, she can see it. And so those are some of the reasons personal safety comes along with the aging in place thing and being able to communicate to people outside of your small world. Because as you point out, it's very easy to become isolated, to become small when you don't have communication. So yeah, even though I can text anybody on the planet, I'd really rather have a phone call sometimes.

Darleen Mahoney [00:04:56]:

Yeah. I'll be honest with you. I hate texting. I hate it. Yeah, I know. I mean I just to me, first of all, a lot of things get lost in translation and texting.

 Elissa Moran [00:05:07]:

Agreed.

 Darleen Mahoney [00:05:07]:

I mean I don't think any, any conversation that is considered a disagreement typically gets solved in a text. I really just, I see people battle out in text. I'm like, this is like having a disagreement over a social media. Anybody that posts something on Facebook, really, really. Are you going to change your mind? Are you going to solve anything? You never will. It's just such a waste of your time. Your brain power. And honestly just.

 Darleen Mahoney [00:05:36]:

It's just insane. So I feel like with the texting and I have big F fingers. I mean, my thumbs are just gigantic. So I could literally just text anything to anyone and it comes out as gibberish sometimes. So it's just. Can be. Yeah.

 Elissa Moran [00:05:51]:

I have to admit, when I say texting, I'm using my voice recognition. I'm speaking into the phone because I have the same fat fingers that you do. And so I totally get it. And if I can't speak to text into the phone, then I'm annoyed because now I have to make my fat fingers do the walking and they don't love to do it. So I hear you on that and you've absolutely hit the nail on the head with important conversations should never be done by text. Emotionally charged conversations. No, because you can't hear the emotion. You can't hear somebody's apologetic tone or you can't hear their challenging tone.

 Elissa Moran [00:06:25]:

If you needed to hear that, you don't hear any of that. And so on a phone call, super important that you can hear that. And then again, oh, with hearing loss, maybe we should be using an adaptive phone or hearing aids or some other adaptation so that I can hear that emotion in the voice so I can hear those nuances that could be lost otherwise. Absolutely. Yeah. If you're a talker, texting is not your friend.

 Darleen Mahoney [00:06:48]:

Yeah. No. And then if you have a lazy reader, you've got someone. If you do a voice to text and you've got this big long text, they read the first two sentences and then they're responding before they've even read the whole rest of the text.

 Elissa Moran [00:07:02]:

Right. Is that like calling somebody back when they left you a voicemail and you didn't bother to listen to the voicemail? Called them back.

 Darleen Mahoney [00:07:07]:

Yeah, 100%.

 Elissa Moran [00:07:09]:

So that's so. Yes, I agree. It's back and forth conversation. That's where we started from. That's where we start from when we're babies and we're in our parents arms and they're singing to us or signing to us, that's when it's starting. And so, yeah, the texting switches somewhere along the line, but it's never as comfortable as in person speaking.

 Darleen Mahoney [00:07:30]:

100%. And I will tell you, one of the most important parts of what we just talked about is hearing the voice of your loved one. You can't put money on that, you know, especially now that you know if you've had someone that you've lost and they're no longer with you, you know, if you haven't saved any kind of recording of their voice, like a voicemail or if you have video, you go back into your memory and it's really hard. You really think about those. Their voice, and it's just over time, you really go back and you find it really hard to recall. I know that after my mom passed away, I couldn't find a recording. I didn't save any voice messages. And I regret that I ended up saving my dad's because I absolutely knew that I had to do that so that I can listen to them anytime.

 Darleen Mahoney [00:08:21]:

But after she passed away, because I used to call my mom every single day, I started calling after work. So I kept calling her until her phone was disconnected, which was so shocking to me when that happened. But that's a story for a different day. But I just wanted to hear her pick up the phone and she had the. My mom didn't. She was technology deficient.

 Elissa Moran [00:08:46]:

But that happens.

 Darleen Mahoney [00:08:47]:

I know she left this voicemail and it was, this is Brenda. That was her whole voicemail. And I can still to this day hear that in my head.

Elissa Moran [00:08:58]:

I love it.

 Darleen Mahoney [00:08:59]:

And you can't put money on that. It's just something that I will never forget and I will always cherish, but I would do anything to have the recording of that.

 Elissa Moran [00:09:09]:

You're going to make me cry.

 Darleen Mahoney [00:09:10]:

I'm sorry.

 Alyssa Moran [00:09:11]:

Because you're quite correct.

 Darleen Mahoney [00:09:12]:

Yeah. Yeah. And a text will never fix that.

Elissa Moran [00:09:16]:

Text will never fix it.

Darleen Mahoney [00:09:17]:

It will never fix it and will never replace it.

Elissa Moran [00:09:19]:

Never replace it. And the fact that you were able to make those daily phone calls is a wonderful illustration of how important the phone can be to somebody, especially if she was living alone at the time. Imagine how she was looking forward to hearing from you and then you knew that she was okay. And not only could you hear her voice, but you knew that she was okay. And that's really what it's all about, is maintaining that connection with people, especially over distances. As I said earlier, so many of us here in Florida have connections that are far flung across the United States. And so it's nice to be able to reach those people and be able to talk to them and in real time and hear their voice. That is super important, no matter what age you are.

Darleen Mahoney [00:10:06]:

Yeah, absolutely.

Elissa Moran [00:10:07]:

But especially us grandparents down here want to hear the grandchildren. And they're hard enough to understand as it is.

Darleen Mahoney [00:10:16]:

The grandchildren, 100%, because you can't text a grandkid for sure. But definitely being able to hear their voices, their little voices, because they do change over time and being able to.

Elissa Moran [00:10:28]:

Cherish the, their little voices really, especially those high pitched little kid voices. Those are some of the worst ones. If you have age related hearing loss, most people who have it know it's or you've heard you lose your high frequencies. So they all sound the same after a while. And, and children have high voices and they have like, they're notorious for being difficult to hear when people with have hearing loss. So being able to use an adaptive telephone, an amplified telephone, makes that little voice that much louder for you and makes it a little bit easier to follow the conversation. And it's sad to think that people might remove themselves from that because we do see that going back to making yourself your world small is that people with hearing loss will eventually avoid making phone calls. Right.

 Darleen Mahoney [00:11:22]:

Because they're straining too hard.

 Elissa Moran [00:11:24]:

Correct, Correct. And that is one of the things, it's fearsome, it's scary because it's like walking in. Imagine walking into a room knowing that you're partially dressed and there's a bunch of people in there and you know you only have some of your clothing on. Right. Not all of it, but you don't know which parts and you can't fix them ahead of time. So you're going to walk in there just feeling all kinds off kilter and discombobulated. You're not sure you're going to be able to navigate this situation correctly or properly and come out with the knowledge you need. And that's exactly what happens when you have a phone call with hearing loss.

Elissa Moran [00:12:01]:

Because. Right. You're straining so hard to hear, so hard to hear what that person is saying, that whatever they're saying, you don't have any cognitive horsepower left to create a memory track for it in your brain. So it doesn't create information. Like someone calls and it says, yes, your appointment is next Tuesday the 23rd at 2pm well, if you are struggling to hear and you manage to get the 23rd, you might miss the 2pm and you might not want to keep asking. Right. Because I'm sorry, could you repeat the time again? Yeah, 2:00pm Ooh, they said it really fast. I didn't tell them to say it slower before I asked that time.

 Elissa Moran [00:12:41]:

So I can say, could you say that one more time? Now sometimes that means that that person might be cranky that I'm talking to. They don't want to tell me 2pm for the third time. I might have to say, I might have to advocate for myself. I'm so sorry, but I have a terrible Hearing loss. Could you please email me that information? Could you please send that to me in a different fashion? Or could you please speak up? Could you please speak more clearly? So sometimes you people with hearing loss do have to advocate for themselves and say, I don't hear so well. So if you want me to play along the way. You need me to play along. I need you to communicate the way that so I can have access to this conversation.

Elissa Moran [00:13:23]:

So amplification is huge. A phone call that is loud enough for you to hear the information so you're not straining just to hear it. Now you actually have horsepower left in your brain to take the information you're hearing, respond to it, come up with some sort of intelligent rejoinder or response, or add information to that, but you're much more participatory in that conversation when you can hear it. And you won't answer things wrong and make people think you have other things going on. Because I hate to say it, but hearing loss and dementia can look an awful lot alike, right? And so a lot of times people are struggling with hearing loss. You might ask them what time it is. You might hear back, it's 72 degrees outside. They were guessing at what you had asked them.

Elissa Moran [00:14:13]:

Maybe they were trying to read your lips, read your facial expression, put together little pieces of sound that they had and try and guess at what you've said. Rather than say, I'm sorry, I didn't hear you, could you repeat yourself? And then they say, it's 72 degrees. That's not what you asked them at all. And now you're going, hmm, that's not what I asked. And that answer was way off from my question. So you can go back in and ask again. And nine times out of 10, that person, if you speak up a little bit, will answer correctly. But that is the little hesitancy that people with hearing loss, that you have to be mindful that when you're answering incorrectly, quite often you're not responding the way people expect you to, if you could hear them properly, that you're going to cause concern around the people that care for you, because they'll recognize that something is going on and they probably need some sort of assistance.

Elissa Moran [00:15:13]:

Hearing aids, be it prescription hearing aids, over the counter hearing aids, my little earbuds that I'm wearing for this phone call can act like hearing aids. They're not the greatest. I've tried it. But it does give you a little bit of a boost. There's lots of technology coming out there now, so people with hearing loss don't have to try and hide it because it's. You're not hiding it. You think you are, but everybody knows you don't hear well.

Darleen Mahoney [00:15:42]:

Right.

Elissa Moran [00:15:43]:

And we think nothing of wearing glasses. You and I both got glasses on.

Darleen Mahoney [00:15:46]:

Right.

Elissa Moran [00:15:47]:

We think nothing of it. So we need to have that same approach to hearing devices, be it hearing aids, amplified phones, or even captioning phones and the various different things that are out there to help people.

Darleen Mahoney [00:15:58]:

Yeah, I think we really need to advocate for removing the stigma of hearing loss because I think there's definitely a stigma out there. Yes. And there's a certain. I mean, I know that 100% that my dad had hearing loss and he used to just say that he just couldn't hear my mother and he said it was that. Well, I know that wasn't it. He would use that as a joke, as to push it off. But I 100% know. And he had dementia and it may have made his dementia worse, I'm pretty certain, because he did have.

Elissa Moran [00:16:33]:

There are studies out there that show that there's a correlation to hearing loss and worsening cognitive decline.

Darleen Mahoney [00:16:41]:

Exactly, exactly. So I'm not uncertain that that didn't have a part in that. But at the end of the day, he absolutely refused to recognize it. And I think it had something to do with the stigma of hearing loss. And that makes me angry that he did not want to acknowledge that that was happening because of that stigma. Because there is 100% for just hearing aids. There is some affordability to it. So it's not that there's a gigantic cost and they're tiny.

Darleen Mahoney [00:17:14]:

I mean, we actually have friends that wear hearing aids and they're tiny. I don't even know they're wearing them, to be honest with you. So, I mean, they're not. We need to make them cool. I think we need to make them cute and cool. You know, zebra prints. I mean, I think, you know, doing some fun things like that might, you know, make them cool.

Elissa Moran [00:17:35]:

So I have hearing aids in my future. I just barely passed my last hearing test and there was some aspects of it that. Oh, the high frequency loss that I was just talking about. Because I'm your classic age related high frequency loss person. And if I. When I get my hearing aids, I want them to be like hot pink or something. Like, I really want them to be like people who have cochlear implants, especially the kids. The piece that they wear on the outside of their head.

Elissa Moran [00:18:01]:

They can make them fun. Hearing aids for kids are fun. So let's do the same thing for adults. Because you're right. You're not fooling anybody. And we know that it's going to hurt you if you don't have your hearing loss treated. And men are terrible. I'm sorry for any man out there that's listening.

Elissa Moran [00:18:20]:

I'm so sorry.

Darleen Mahoney [00:18:22]:

I agree with you. I think that it's an ego thing. Yeah.

Elissa Moran [00:18:27]:

And they're the ones that oftentimes, at least I'm from Maine. So in Maine, there's a lot of the gentlemen with hearing loss had industrial backgrounds. They worked in different, like lumber mills or paper mills or different kinds of manufacturing. A lot of background noise. And that will definitely kill hearing over time. So you had a whole bunch of men who came out of the woods and didn't hear. And it was very sad to see because you could see the marriage struggle.

Darleen Mahoney [00:19:03]:

Yeah.

Elissa Moran [00:19:04]:

And that is something that happens.

Darleen Mahoney [00:19:07]:

You'll have bitter fights of the selective hearing. And I put that in quotation conversations.

Elissa Moran [00:19:13]:

It is so frustrating. Now I will say, I'm bad, I'm bad. So if I run into a wife who was just. Which happens sometimes, I'll run and she's like, my husband, he can't hear. He refuses to get his hearing checked. I know he doesn't hear. And I would say, do you cook for him? Yes. Stop.

Elissa Moran [00:19:29]:

Do you do his laundry? Yes. Stop. Do. Stop doing all those things until he gets his hearing checked out. Make it a quid pro quo, you know, like this. Because it's not fair to you long suffering wife that is now living also a diminished life. So it's the folks. The person with a hearing loss isn't always.

Elissa Moran [00:19:53]:

They're so busy denying their hearing loss themselves that they are also denying the impact it's having on their families.

Darleen Mahoney [00:19:58]:

Right.

Elissa Moran [00:19:59]:

And it can be difficult. So that is something to keep in mind that your pride of not wanting to admit that you have a hearing loss could, you know, could cause harm in your family.

Darleen Mahoney [00:20:13]:

Yeah, absolutely.

Elissa Moran [00:20:15]:

And that's something to just keep in mind. Whereas you'd be welcome with open arms into the hearing loss community. Because there's a lot of us. There's a lot of us. And there's stuff out there now to make it more easy to navigate this world with hearing loss than there ever used to be.

Darleen Mahoney [00:20:32]:

Absolutely, absolutely. And I hate the idea that, you know, you risk the isolation. You make your world smaller. It affects your family life. I mean, definitely with your spouse, but also with your children, your grandchildren. Going out to dinner if you're not. I was just gonna Say, you know, you're sitting with your friends, your peers, and you're missing parts of conversation. And I can see it sometimes when you're sitting at a table and someone is not hearing, they're in a different, they're thinking about different things and they're not engaging.

Darleen Mahoney [00:21:06]:

And it's, it's sad to see because you try to pull them in and they're just not, they don't really, they've missed half of the conversation.

Elissa Moran [00:21:13]:

They can't. I mean, you can try to pull them in, but unless they can pull something out of their pocket and pop it in their ears, then nothing's going to change. Your desire for them to hear better doesn't make them hear better. Right. That's really the real struggle is that they have to also have that desire to hear better and take steps, be it purchasing hearing aids. You're right, those are expensive. Those are expensive. And so it's not an option for everybody.

 Elissa Moran [00:21:41]:

The over the counter, the OTC hearing aids that are available without prescription, some people find those super helpful. Some audiologists and some hearing aid specialists. It's interesting in that community of providers, there's mixed feelings about the OTC hearing aids. Some of them are violently opposed to that. And because, and I understand from an audiologist perspective, if you have problems hearing, you should get that checked out to make sure you don't have a tumor, to make sure you don't have something else going on that isn't just a hearing aid solution situation that you want to rule out some other medical thing. So the complaint that hearing instrument providers, audiologists have is that people who will just go to CVS and pick up a pair of over the counter things will walk around with some medical episode about to happen and be unaware.

Darleen Mahoney [00:22:32]:

Right.

Elissa Moran [00:22:33]:

That's not an invalid.

Darleen Mahoney [00:22:34]:

That's like going to get readers your whole life and never having your eyes checked. You kind of want to have your eyes checked to make sure you don't.

Elissa Moran [00:22:40]:

You want to have your eyes checked. And then when, when the guy says, yeah, you just need readers, you're like, great, okay, but so you really do need to work with a hearing instrument specialist or like I said, even, even the EarPods, even headphones, so many times you might see somebody, especially on a cell phone, where they put the call on spe. I need to call somebody. I'm going to put it on speaker. Why are you putting that on speaker? Now the whole world can hear it. Well, I need it in both ears. If I hold it up to one side, I need it in both ears. Well, then put on some headphones.

Elissa Moran [00:23:12]:

Put on some headphones and that will at least help. And those you can get cheap enough that it's not a financial burden. Because the hearing aids, if you get Bluetooth streaming hearing aids, which is the best that you can do, so they go. Your calls go directly to your ears. That's the best you can do. But not everybody can afford that. So there are programs out there that try to fill in the gaps as much as possible, including the one that I work with. So there are things out there for people.

Darleen Mahoney [00:23:43]:

There are state programs, right?

Elissa Moran [00:23:46]:

There are state programs, right. Thank you for asking. There are mostly. Almost every state in the nation has a program. I can tell you right now. New York does not. So if you're listening from New York, I'm so sorry, there is no state program. Delaware, I think Delaware.

Elissa Moran [00:24:01]:

I don't think Delaware has a program. But if you want to check out a particular state. Now, I'm about to say a mouthful of words, but the company I work for, which is also a mouthful of words, FTRI is a member of a national organization made up of state programs like ours in Florida called the Telecommunications Equipment Distribution Program Association. You will not be the least bit surprised that we abbreviate that to Tedpa. T E D P A. So Tedpa.com is a website where people can go and they can look up their specific state program and get the contact information. And some states allow you to apply right online. Florida is one of them.

Elissa Moran [00:24:49]:

Not many, because there are state programs, so they can tend to be a little bit behind. We try and run ours more like a little store in terms of the customer journey. But most of these programs can be accessed online and they provide a variety of things. Some of them provide even way more than what the state of Florida has to offer, which is sad, but it is our current situation. The biggest thing is wireless. So cell phones, smartphones, tablets can be made available. Some of them have income components, meaning you might have to be at a certain federal poverty level. Many states work with 220% in order to get free equipment.

Elissa Moran [00:25:35]:

Every state, sorry, it runs its own program. So you don't look up the rules for Illinois, for example, and say, oh, great, we're going to assume that applies in Texas. No, every state runs it differently. So that would be the place to learn which state program you want to go to. But again, amplified phones are the biggest, easiest, easiest thing that people. You can almost see the tears in their eyes when they pick that phone up and they can actually hear and have access to the conversation. Now, sometimes hearing loss gets to the point where amplification is not sufficient. So if you think in terms of the five senses communication, you hear it? Yes.

Elissa Moran [00:26:23]:

Can you taste it? Nope. Can you smell it? Can you see it? Yes. If it's written, the text based communication, can I feel it? If it's braille and I can read braille, then yes, I can feel communication. Most people do not. So most of our accommodations fall along the lines of either being amplification, make it louder so it's easier to hear, or make it text based so I can read it. And that would be your captioning phone.

Darleen Mahoney [00:26:52]:

Okay.

Alyssa Moran [00:26:52]:

And people see those advertised on television. That's a federal program that provides free captel phones, clear captions, and caption call phones. And those phones produce captions just like it sounds. So if you are. And I were having a conversation and I had a caption phone, everything that you say is showing up on a nice big screen screen in front of me. I am hearing it also, and I am hearing it in the handset. And it has like 40 decibels of amplification, though. So there is some amplification.

Alyssa Moran [00:27:21]:

But for the most part, I'm going to be relying on the text. Now, that is super helpful because you can save the text on that phone. So if you were calling, say you're calling the doctor. Remember I was at the beginning of the conversation talking about, oh, I'm going for surgery. So there's a bunch of persnickety instructions I have to follow when I can eat, what I have to do, all this prep, I have to take, whatever. Well, wouldn't that be helpful to have that all written down because you just made a phone call and it all got transcribed.

Darleen Mahoney [00:27:50]:

Yeah.

Alyssa Moran [00:27:51]:

Wow.

Darleen Mahoney [00:27:51]:

Yeah.

Alyssa Moran [00:27:52]:

Wow. Now, remember what I said about horsepower and trying to remember stuff and I forgot my pen. I don't know where it is. I can't write anything down. I don't have to. It's now all on this phone screen. I'm saving it. Wonderful.

Alyssa Moran [00:28:03]:

The other one that people really have fits over. I need to call Xfinity customer support or I need to call.

Darleen Mahoney [00:28:12]:

I see where this is going.

Alyssa Moran [00:28:16]:

Right?

Darleen Mahoney [00:28:16]:

Yes.

Alyssa Moran [00:28:17]:

And so I am probably going to call. My call is probably going to go someplace where the person answering is going to have an accent. When you have hearing loss, accents can be really tough. They can be really tough. And so much like going to the, you know, Netflix or you turn on the subtitles because you don't understand that British accent.

Darleen Mahoney [00:28:37]:

Oh, My God, some of those British shows are amazing. But I'm like literally going to understand what they're saying. Yeah. Are they saying Scottish? Sometimes is the worst. That kills me. Yes, yes, yes.

Alyssa Moran [00:28:47]:

Oh, and don't laugh, but I was watching crochet videos because I'm trying to figure out how to make this fingerless mitts.

Darleen Mahoney [00:28:53]:

Right.

Alyssa Moran [00:28:53]:

And there was one that was beautiful. Like the. Her filming was beautiful. I could not understand. She was like, had to a very strong accent. I really struggled to understand her accent. So that kind of thing is really tough. But that's where captioning can help, especially calling customer support.

Alyssa Moran [00:29:10]:

And you don't trust them. What are they saying they're going to do? Well, now all their promises are in writing right here on your caption screen. So that is a wonderful, wonderful device. The relay service is a free service and that takes the written word and turns it into the. The spoken word or vice versa. So you have that going on. That is usually done now by computers. In the old days, it was actually a typist, a cart typist, stenographer who would listen to the call and type.

Alyssa Moran [00:29:39]:

But now that's all done. AI Right.

Darleen Mahoney [00:29:43]:

Right.

Alyssa Moran [00:29:43]:

Computer generated, which is nice because no one's listening in on your phone calls.

Darleen Mahoney [00:29:47]:

Right.

Alyssa Moran [00:29:48]:

Sometimes people freak out about relay service. The operator, what are they going to talk about over dinner tonight? They are not talking about your phone call. I can assure you 100% that's. And that's for spoken language users, for sign language users, which are deaf folks. My late husband was deaf. So I'm a former interpreter and well versed in all things deaf culture and sign language. Well, video relay service allows very much like a FaceTime call or video phone call, but you also can make a phone call to the pizza place with that and you have an interpreter in the middle.

Darleen Mahoney [00:30:25]:

Okay.

Alyssa Moran [00:30:26]:

You're watching them sign on the screen, you're signing to them, and they're speaking to the pizza place, listening to what the pizza place is saying and then signing it to you. They're relaying the conversation.

Darleen Mahoney [00:30:35]:

Oh, yeah.

Alyssa Moran [00:30:36]:

So that's why it's called the relay service.

Darleen Mahoney [00:30:37]:

Okay.

Alyssa Moran [00:30:38]:

And that's been around for relay service concepts. Been around since the 80s. And that's what the ADA mandated. 1990, the Americans with Disability act of 1990, hence FTRIs birth in 1991. So you had relay service available from that point on. But it was such a niche offering, you know, most people didn't need it. It was primarily for TTY users. Back in the day, amplified phones don't require the relay service.

Alyssa Moran [00:31:10]:

They just use regular phone lines, so they don't need the relay service. One of our amplified phones also pairs by Bluetooth to cell phone. So if anybody out there is listening to this going, do I have to have a landline? What do I have to have? No, you don't. Landline's awesome. But there's this thing called a hybrid car that people know about. It runs on gas and electric. Well, there's this other thing called a hybrid phone, and it will plug into a landline or it will pair by Bluetooth to your cell phone. Just like in your car when you make phone calls in your car.

Alyssa Moran [00:31:43]:

Yeah, same idea with this phone. And now you get all kinds of amplifiers, amplification, tone adjustments. It's much more comfortable for older hands to operate and hold. It's a much better calling experience and then communication experience for users. Compared to just holding onto your cell phone, which is shaped like a brick, it's not comfortable to hold onto for an hour. Right. You know, so you. You don't want a long conversation, and.

Darleen Mahoney [00:32:08]:

You shouldn't be holding onto it while you're driving. So. So just please, here's a safety note here.

Alyssa Moran [00:32:17]:

But I can. I can't tell you how many people do anybody been listening out there? I'm telling you, go out today and drive to Publix or something, and you'll probably see six people on their cell phones. Not supposed to be.

Darleen Mahoney [00:32:27]:

And some states are significantly more stricter. Florida, while it's the law, I don't think they're pulling people over. I know the state of Arizona, they will pull you over in a heartbeat.

Alyssa Moran [00:32:37]:

Oh, true. Is that true?

Darleen Mahoney [00:32:38]:

They're very, very strict. Yeah. Very, very strict.

Alyssa Moran [00:32:41]:

Which. I know. I'm not mad at that. I know I'm not. I remember years ago, there was that joke of public radio that when there was coming out with bans on cell phones and they had some lawmaker who was calling in from his car, he got in an accident on the phone calling it. You know, not a major accident, but a little bit, you know, just kind of proved the point of, like, why you shouldn't be doing this.

Darleen Mahoney [00:33:05]:

Yeah. You're not allowed to touch your phone at all. I think in the state of Arizona.

Alyssa Moran [00:33:09]:

I think Connecticut's like.

Darleen Mahoney [00:33:10]:

Or you're not allowed to hold it. You might be able to touch it, but no, I don't think you're allowed to touch it.

Alyssa Moran [00:33:14]:

Hands free. Like, hands free calling, which is fine if you use your voice recognition, you know, and tell Your phone to call mom. But yeah, I. The texting and driving is bad, bad, bad. Even calling and driving can be bad, bad, bad. You just want to be paying attention. And it's hard to pay attention when the person you're talking to is not in the car with you.

Darleen Mahoney [00:33:37]:

Exactly.

Alyssa Moran [00:33:38]:

You know, it is hard. Save those for long, boring highway stretches when there's not a car in sight.

Darleen Mahoney [00:33:44]:

I know, I know. Oh my goodness. That's what. That's when I use my time for listening to podcasts. So.

Alyssa Moran [00:33:52]:

Just saying. I do that too.

Darleen Mahoney [00:33:56]:

Yeah. SeniorLivingGuide.com podcast would be a great one if anyone's listen.

Alyssa Moran [00:34:01]:

I'll be listening to that.

Darleen Mahoney [00:34:03]:

Yes, for sure. All right, so I will tell you, we're going to go ahead and include the the link for te-pa.com in the description so anyone that heard that, you can click on it right there. You don't have to go to your search engine to do that. And we will do that also for the Florida program for ftri. So that will, that will be linked in there as well. So you don't have to do any additional Google Bing searches. It'll be available to you in the description on whatever app you are choosing to listen to this podcast on. So before we sign off, do you have any other things that you want to add on before last minute thoughts or.

Alyssa Moran [00:34:44]:

Actually, yes. I just, I didn't spend a lot of time talking about the Florida program, so I just want to emphasize that it is a statewide program. We serve all people in Florida. Our program does not take into consideration income or insurance. So if you apply to get a phone from us, here are the qualifications. You have to be over the age of three. You have to have a hearing loss or speech disorder. Because we also provide some devices for people with speech disability.

Alyssa Moran [00:35:15]:

You have to be a Florida resident.

Darleen Mahoney [00:35:16]:

Okay.

Alyssa Moran [00:35:17]:

That's it.

Darleen Mahoney [00:35:18]:

That's it.

Alyssa Moran [00:35:19]:

And that's it.

Darleen Mahoney [00:35:20]:

That's amazing.

Alyssa Moran [00:35:20]:

And that's amazing. That's Florida's program. And once you have completed an application form or last name address, we'll send phones directly to you. You can apply online. You can do the whole process on our website and we'll ship the phone directly to you. And then you can always call customer care for support with your device. And when I say phone, it might be the captioning tablet, it could be the amplified phone, it could be the cell phone amplifier, it could be the flashing ring signaler. Whichever device it is that you is going to help you make your phone calls.

Darleen Mahoney [00:35:55]:

Okay.

Alyssa Moran [00:35:56]:

We don't care about income. We don't care. We just want to see your driver's license to verify you're a Florida resident. No driver's license will take a voter ID card or a state id.

Darleen Mahoney [00:36:05]:

Okay. Well, thank you for joining us today on this podcast, the seniorlivingguide.com podcast. We have absolutely enjoyed having Alyssa on this podcast. It's been an amazing podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast, please check us out on anywhere you enjoy podcasts. We are seniorlivingguide. Com podcast. Thank you for