I really should fill out a profile here, so I don't have to keep restating our situation, but my 93-year-old mother has been living in our home for about three-and-a-half years now. She is cognitively fine, no dementia. Smart woman who believes she has "no purpose", and who has been resistant to engaging with people, hobbies, activities, etc. since she's been here. Her life after retirement was caring for her home, land, and animals, and that is all gone. Today's problem: She wears hearing aids, but even with the aids, her hearing is very, very poor. In the last three weeks, her hearing has diminished to the point that she is now functionally deaf. She hears NOTHING. We have an appointment with the audiologist later this month to check the hearing aids, but I suspect that is not the issue. We are using a series of large cue cards with standard questions/statements written out, as well as a white board for brief communications, but there is now no way to have any sort of interactive conversation with her. It's terrible for her, and frustrating for us. Because of various irremediable visual problems, she's down to one eye, and that isn't perfect, but she can at least read. My question for the community here is, does anyone have suggestions for a good live transcription app? We currently use Live Transcribe, which is unreliable (not great when you must tell your mom that her grandkids are NOT using the f-word!) and doesn't distinguish between different speakers during a conversation. I feel as though there must be some technology, we aren't aware of that could help my mother. I'm beginning to feel rather desperate, as my mother's entire life now consists of reading. I am trying not to think about what happens when she can neither hear or nor see. (Also, we may be approaching a time when a move into AL is warranted. How would she manage with no hearing?) Thank you! This group is so amazing and so helpful.
https://www.nationaldeafcenter.org/topics/assistive-technology