To those who can hear with ease, the thought of what life would be like without access to a telephone would probably never cross their mind. Spare then, a thought for those of us who struggle to hear on the phone and how it must now feel to have an option of using a captioned telephone.

Captioned Telephone technology engages a third party operator who uses voice recognition technology to transmit real-time captions on the phone while you listen to the call - much like watching captioned television - it is WONDERFUL. The spoken word appears as captions on a large, easy-to-read screen at virtually the same time as the caller speaks, allowing conversation to flow at near normal speed between the two call participants.

Without a doubt, text messaging has opened up a world of communications for the hearing impaired, as has emailing however, many of our more mature family members prefer to use their telephones and as their hearing has deteriorated with age they have become isolated and often sad and lonely.

Louise Carroll CEO of The National Foundation for the Deaf said this is one of the greatest telephone communication breakthroughs for the hearing impaired sector. She also commented that following the announcement earlier this week that the registration cost for the first 200 people has reduced from $323.00 to $99.00 shows government and industry are also keenly in support of this technology being available too.