If your hearing aid isn't very severe, then you may be able to hear well enough to take your hearing aid out and use the phone without the hearing aid.

Manufacturers of hearing aids are quite innovative, they are always finding new features to add to the hearing aids.

If you wanted to use Bluetooth headsets with your hearing aid it may have been difficult before, however now you can buy a Bluetooth compatible headset, these enable users to talk on the phone like other people can normally.

Bluetooth is the name of a wireless radio system that can be used as a wireless headset. Bluetooth is a standard protocol which is compatible with Bluetooth enabled phones and PDA's. For more info see http://www.firsthearingaids.com/comparereviews/digital_hearing_aids.html

Ear level instrument (ELI) is a Bluetooth headset produced by Starkey, this headset works perfectly with most hearing aids. The ELI is very small and considerably light, there is a built in battery which you can recharge. It uses a digital system to minimise the interference.

The only problems with the ELI is that they are relatively new, and so they are quite difficult to come by.

The ELI is positioned behind the ear, it uses the telecoil system to ¡®talk' to a telecoil enabled hearing aid. This works similar to when talking on a conventional phone with telecoils.

The ELI battery does not last very long, however because it's rechargeable you can charge it up instead of having to replace it.

So how do you know whether or not you can use a Bluetooth headset with your phone? Well your cell phone should have a Bluetooth logo somewhere on the case, or box. You can also look in the product specifications.

If your handset is Bluetooth enabled then you should be able to use an ELI, however it is worth checking compatibility before purchasing.