hearing phones?

[Charlotte Lady]

I'm not sure how to explain this but I can hear somehwat over the phone but not in real life.  I can hear low voices on answering machines or cell phones.  I thought it was either travelling through my skull or that I was hearing with my good ear.  I don't think it's my good ear hearing because if I plug my good ear I can't hear it holding the phone on that side.  I'm not sure about the skull convection.  If the phone isn't touching my skull and I still hearing it, am I hearing or is it still most likely convection?  I had a hearing test shortly after surgery for this but I'm not confident in the accuracy of the test or the competency of the technician.

Does anyone esle have "phone hearing" only? 

Donna

[HeadCase2]

Hello Donna,
  Phones by design, emphasize frequencies involved with voice recognition.  That might help explain why you're able to hear voices on machines better than live voices.
  I doubt that you're getting bone conduction to help hear the phone held on your hearing impaired side.  Bone conduction hearing devices like the BAHA and Transear require the device to be in close contact with the skull, to effectively send vibrations through the skull for the good side to hear.. But you still could be hearing the phone on the good side to some extent when you hold the phone on the impaired side.  I like to describe it as hearing something with a basketball in the way.
  When they tested my hearing, they used various levels of static noise on the good side, to make sure they were testing hearing on the impaired side by itself..  By blanking out the good ear with static, the good ear was unable to assist hearing for the impaired side.
Regards,
  Rob

[Boppie]

I find it extremely difficult to totally block sound to my good ear with my finger.  Some sound leaks through the finger tissue and bone.  So I think you are getting sound in the good ear.  That side is very sensitive after treatment that results in deafness on the affected side.

I agree that the phone will do much for you up against a TransEar.  I can hear a soft phone volume through my TransEar if I hold the phone close to the mike.  But the volume isn't enough to function as a practical stand alone phone ear.