Phonak Roger Pen and land-line phones

I recently purchased the Roger Pen and receivers for my Phonak Brio P-UP Hearing Aids. I have severe hearing loss. The Roger Pen was recommended to me to provide an additional hearing boost in difficult hearing situations like speaking on a land-line phone. Unfortunately, the documentation that comes with the Roger Pen does not suggest a way to do that. It’s instructions are for cellphones and bluetooth only.

Many land-line phones have a headset jack. Both my land-line corded phone and cordless phone have one. Unfortunately, when a cable is plugged into either phone, the phone expects a microphone along with headphones. The phone then mutes the microphone in the handset. The Roger Pen does have a microphone. But when a cable is used with the Pen, the microphone in the Pen is muted. Consequently, the Pen cannot be used for land-line phone calls.

There is a work-around for a corded phone. It is mentioned in the brochure Phone Calls Made Easy with Roger Guidebook (http://www.phonakpro.com/content/dam/phonakpro/gc_hq/en/products_solutions/wireless_accessories/roger/documents/guidebook_btb_phone_calls_with_roger_028-1425.pdf58). It uses a third party device, a phone recording adapter (e.g., VEC TRX-20) between the handset and the Roger Pen. I contacted the VEC company to ask about this device. The reply I received said they received a great many inquiries about that device from people wishing to use their corded phones with the Roger Pen. That would indicate a need for Phonak to address this problem. At this time there appears to be no such easy fix for users of cordless phones.

It was not easy for me to find the work-around using the phone recording adapter. After some searching on the Internet I found it on a website in the UK, which led me to their excellent video, http://www.fmhearingsystems.co.uk/our-videos/40. I purchased the device from Amazon.com6 (http://www.amazon.com/TRX-20-Direct-Connect-Telephone-ADAPTER/dp/B000KL0XA6/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1446743368&sr=1-1&keywords=VEC+TRX-20+3.5MM+Direct+Connect+Telephone+Record+Device+(ADAPTER+ONLY)51)and installed it. It works! I installed it on my corded CaptionCall phone so I have the benefit of improved hearing and seeing the (often garbled) captions on the screen.

I realize that cell phones are the future but older people like me who are the most likely to be hearing impaired are still often users of corded land-line phones. It would be very helpful if information about using a corded land-line phone with a third party device were added to the Roger Pen User Guide that comes printed with the device. In the meantime, if any of you who are considering the rather expensive Roger Pen, or who have one and wish you could use it with a land-line phone, I hope this post is helpful.

Am I being naive in thinking that since the Roger Pen already has a microphone to be used with Bluetooth phone calls all that would be necessary to fix the problem with land-line phones is a small firmware update? I suspect Phonak’s engineers could do that in a minute, if Phonak actually cared about service.

Glucas, I’m also confused. I’m not sure where this discussion is leading. The phone->Roger Pen is by audio cable. Roger Pen->receivers is wireless, but not Bluetooth. The Phonak DECT phone->HAs is also wireless, and as far as I can tell, also not Bluetooth. Both transmit wirelessly and whether equally well, I have no idea.

The DECT phone has only one use, for telephone calls. I purchased the Roger Pen and receivers for mostly other reasons, particularly hearing better in restaurants, in conferences and in situations where another person can wear or hold the Roger to talk to me in a noisy car, or at a greater distance from me. Using the Roger for phone calls is an added benefit. It is not the sole benefit as the DECT phone would be. Adding corded phone use with a $20 device makes more sense for me than spending an additional $300 (Amazon) for the phone.

As for the amplification of the sound being a function of the settings the audiologist makes to the receivers attached to my hearing aids, that is true. But as I understand, with the DECT phone, what you see is what you get. Other than enabling a “boost” for volume on the phone, no settings are changed to your hearing aids. And for me personally, connecting to my corded CaptionCall phone works well as I also get the benefit of the captioning service on that phone.

The Roger Pen system is not perfect. Adjustments to the sound quality and volume of the Roger programs in the HA receivers need to be made by an audiologist. And there are a lot of situations where the Roger Pens are only minimally helpful. When introducing myself to people I still append “I’m deaf” to my name :).