You used to make phone calls without thinking about it. You’d pick up, chat, hang up, get on with your day. Now there’s a whole pre-flight routine. You find yourself pacing the room to get better signal. You press the phone hard against your ear. You put your finger in your other ear to block the room out. You ask the person on the other end to speak up, then to slow down, then to speak up again. You hang up more tired than you used to. You’ve started letting calls go to voicemail and firing off a text back later, or waiting for the person to WhatsApp you instead.
If any of that sounds familiar, you’re not alone, and you’re not becoming a worse listener. Phone calls are genuinely one of the hardest listening environments the ear faces in day-to-day life. There are no visual cues to fall back on, no lip reading, no facial expressions to fill in the gaps that hearing usually leaves. On top of that, mobile phone networks compress the audio in ways that cut some of the very frequencies that make speech clear. Landlines can be even worse, particularly older handsets in draughty hallways.
Phone calls are also very often the first place hearing loss quietly announces itself. Long before the telly, long before family gatherings feel harder, long before the audiologist ever gets involved. If phone calls have got noticeably harder over the last year or two, that’s real information worth acting on.
Here are six things that genuinely help, drawn from 24 years of patient conversations at our clinics.
1. Use the loudspeaker for tricky calls
The single easiest change to try tonight is putting important calls on speakerphone. It gets the voice out of the tiny built-in earpiece and lets you hear a much wider slice of the sound spectrum. It also means you can put the phone down and free your hands, sit comfortably rather than hunching over, and take notes during the call if you need to.
The catch is that speakerphone only really works in a quiet room. If you’re in the kitchen with the extractor fan on, or the telly playing in the background, speakerphone will make things worse rather than better. Move somewhere quiet first, then flip it on.
Bonus tip: if your phone has an equaliser or a “clear voice” setting in the sound options, turn it on. Some phones offer this and most people never touch it.
2. Ask the other person to slow down
Most people speak faster on the phone than they do in person, particularly if they’re busy, in the car, or dealing with something at the same time. This alone can make a call feel much harder than it needs to be, even if your hearing is fine.
A polite “would you mind slowing down a bit, I’m on the phone in a busy spot” almost always works. Most people don’t realise how fast they’re speaking until you mention it, and the change is usually immediate. This is particularly worth doing at the start of important calls (medical appointments, financial calls) where missing a detail actually matters.
3. Move to a quiet room before you answer
Background noise on your end is a much bigger problem than most people realise. If you’re in the kitchen with the kettle on, the radio going, the dog barking, and someone loading the dishwasher, you’re asking your ears to filter far more than they need to filter. Even mild hearing changes make this kind of environment much harder to cope with than it used to be.
Move to a quiet room. Close the door. Sit down. Answer from there. The difference is often much bigger than you’d expect.
4. Try a headset or wireless headphones for long calls
If you’re on long calls regularly (work calls, weekly family catch-ups, medical appointments, insurance queries), a proper headset or a pair of Bluetooth headphones takes a lot of the strain off. The audio quality is usually noticeably better than the phone’s built-in speaker, the volume is properly adjustable, and you’re not holding a phone to your head for an hour.
Over-ear headphones tend to be better than earbuds for phone clarity, because they naturally block out room noise. If you already own a pair for music or telly, try them on your next long call and see what you notice.
5. Consider hearing aids with Bluetooth streaming
This is the change that genuinely transforms phone calls for a lot of our patients. Modern hearing aids pair with your phone via Bluetooth and stream the call audio directly into your ears at a volume and tone tuned to your specific hearing profile. No holding the phone up. No missing bits. No exhaustion at the end of a long call. Both ears get the audio, which makes speech much clearer than a single earpiece can manage.
Most premium hearing aids from the major manufacturers (Phonak, Oticon, Widex, Signia, ReSound, Starkey, Audibel, Rexton) pair with both iPhones and Android phones. Most patients who get set up with Bluetooth streaming tell us it’s the single hearing aid feature they use the most, and often the one they’d struggle to live without now.
If phone use matters to you, tell your audiologist at the fitting appointment. We’ll make sure the aids you’re fitted with have proper Bluetooth range and hold the connection well when you move around.
6. Get a hearing test if the phone has genuinely got harder
If phone calls have been getting steadily harder for over a year, it’s worth booking a hearing test. Phone calls stress the hearing system more than face-to-face conversation, so they’re often the first thing to feel harder as hearing changes.
A test won’t automatically end with hearing aids. Sometimes it shows your hearing is fine and the problem is something else (a poor-quality speaker on your phone, a network issue, or just a rushed caller). Sometimes it identifies a mild loss that’s worth watching. And sometimes it opens up the option of hearing aids and streaming that transform how phone calls feel.
Where to book at Hearing Aid Solutions
A hearing test at any of our four clinics is £35, refunded in full if you go on to purchase hearing aids from us. Carmarthen, Cardiff, Llanelli, Haverfordwest. Family run for 24 years. Independent, which means we fit hearing aids from every major manufacturer based on what suits you rather than what makes us margin.
If the phone has become a source of dread, we’d love to help you turn that around.
[Book a hearing test at your nearest clinic.]
Frequently asked questions
Why are mobile calls harder than face-to-face?
Two reasons. First, mobile networks compress the audio, cutting some of the frequencies that make speech clear. Second, you lose all the visual cues (facial expressions, lip movement, body language) that we all use unconsciously to fill in gaps.
Will hearing aids really help with phone calls?
Yes, particularly modern hearing aids with Bluetooth streaming. Instead of holding the phone to your ear, the call comes directly through both aids at a volume and tone tuned to you. Most patients find this transformative.
Do all hearing aids stream calls from any phone?
Most modern premium hearing aids pair with both iPhones and Android phones. If phone use is important to you, tell us at your fitting and we’ll make sure you get aids with strong Bluetooth performance.
What about older landline phones?
There are amplified landline phones designed for people with hearing loss. Some hearing aids also work with a “loop” system that transmits sound magnetically. Talk to us at your appointment about what would suit you best.
Can I trial Bluetooth streaming before I commit to hearing aids?
Yes. We offer a trial period on all hearing aids, so you can test the streaming with your own phone before making any decision.
Does the hearing test cover phone-specific hearing?
We can specifically discuss phone use during your hearing test. If phone calls are one of your main concerns, tell us at the start and we’ll make sure we address it in the recommendations.
