Geemarc Clearsound CL100 Review
This is the phone that I bought for my mother who has moderate hearing loss. As with most people when they begin to lose their hearing it tends to be a bit patchy. On a good day she could actually hear quite well when she'd got the phone up to her ear. On a bad day I'd have to keep repeating things. However, whether it was a good or a bad day the most noticeable thing was that she kept missing the sound of the phone ringing even if she was right by it. Clearly this was a situation that couldn't go on and we realised a new phone was needed.
Having looked at a range of phones I opted for the CL100 because it suited her needs well. Not only did it have to ring really loud and have a volume control it also had to be suitable for her low vision and dexterity problems. And it had to be easy to use as she's not technically minded.
So let's look at the main features of the Geemarc Clearsound CL100 Corded Amplified Phone
- It has a big button keypad
- It as a large incoming visual ringer
- It has an adjustable ringer level (it's much louder than a normal phone)
- The tone can be adjusted
- The volume of the incoming caller can be adjusted
- It has 12 speed dial buttons for frequently used numbers
- It is hearing aid compatible
- It is wall mountable if needed
- It has last number redial
So let's look at these features in more detail
I should think that on the vast majority of phones you can adjust the ringer level. However on ordinary phones the maximum level won't be enough to attract the attention of someone who has bad hearing. Like I've previously mentioned, my mother could be sitting right next to the phone and still not hear it when it rang. She doesn't have this problem now. Since she got the Clearsound CL100 Phone and we've set the ringer to a high volume she's never missed a call even when she's been in another room.
There is also a large flashing light located along most of the bottom of the phone that is activated when the phone rings. This just gives people an extra prompt for when the phone is ringing. Because of her low vision my mother says she rarely notices it unless the room is quite dark but I'm sure it would be useful for some people.
Of course once you've picked up the phone you need to be able to hear what's being said to you so this is where the amplification of the volume comes in. The level can be adjusted by sliding to volume switch up to a maximum of 30dB if the booster button is pressed. If the booster button hasn't been pressed then the maximum volume is 15dB. This can useful when the phone is used by several people. The person with the hearing impairment simply needs to hit the booster button to gain access to the higher levels.
Unfortunately if you suffer from hearing loss, amplification alone probably won't be enough to help you hear clearly on the phone. Over 90% of people suffer from high frequency loss which means they can't hear sounds like "ch" and "st" and consonants such as s, f, t, and z. By using the tone button on the Geemarc CL100 you can adjust the tone by sliding it up and down to increase the bass or treble levels depending on what suits you best, thus making speech clearer.
One feature that makes the CL100 a bit different from other phones is the ability to boost your own voice, not just that of the person calling. The button for this is located on the right hand side of the phone. This can be useful if you're naturally softly spoken or the person you are speaking to is in a noisy environment and can't hear you very well.
If you have or may need a hearing aid in the future then the phone is hearing aid compatible. To use this feature you simply need to set your hearing aid to the 'T' setting.
Apart from these features the phone is very much like any other big button style phone which was exactly what my mother had before so it wasn't too much of leap for her to start using this one. Basically once we'd set up the ringer volume to a level that she could hear and input her most used numbers into the speed dial buttons she only needed to learn to use the volume and tone buttons.
All in all she's been very happy with it and now we don't have to worry about her failing to pick up her phone when we ring her.
So the main Pros are:
It's very easy to use
It can be used by people with a range of types of hearing loss
Cons
Well I can't think of any though you do need to use 4 AAA batteries to increase the ringer level by an extra 10dB.
