Browse Assistive Technology

HP Hearing PRO Self-Fitting OTC Hearing Aids

$399.20

These over-the-counter hearing aids fit you on their own: a built-in hearing check takes about 10 minutes and sets the amplification to match your results, with no audiologist visit. They have directional microphones that favor sounds in front of you, plus active noise cancellation. You can also stream calls and music over Bluetooth and adjust everything from an iPhone or Android app. A charging case is included, and each aid runs up to 8 hours on a charge (about 5 hours if you stream). Gain tops out at 60 dB, the FDA limit for this category, so these are meant for mild to moderate hearing loss, not severe loss.

Self Threading Sewing Machine Needles # 80 (5pk)

$6.45

These sewing machine needles have a small notch cut into the side of the point, so you can press the thread in from the side instead of poking it through the tiny eye. That makes threading easier if you struggle to see the eye or can't hold the thread steady. You get five size 80 needles, which suit standard and lightweight fabrics. They are made to fit sewing machines from roughly the last 15 to 20 years, so check that your machine falls in that range before you buy.

Self Threading Sewing Machine Needles # 90 (5pk)

$6.45

These sewing machine needles have a small notch cut into the side near the point, so you can press the thread into the eye from the side instead of poking it through the tiny opening. That helps if low vision or limited hand control makes threading a needle frustrating. The pack holds 5 size 90 needles, a size meant for heavier fabrics. They are made to fit sewing machines built in roughly the last 15 to 20 years, so check that your machine is in that range before ordering.

Engage Behind the Ear Premium Hearing Aids

$549.99 – $550.00

The Engage is an over-the-counter behind-the-ear hearing aid for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss, sold as a pair you can buy without a medical exam. A free Lucid Hearing app lets you pick a listening program, fine-tune the sound, adjust the left and right aids together or one at a time, and check battery status. You can also stream music straight to the aids from a paired phone or other Bluetooth device. The app comes in separate iOS and Android versions, so you have to choose one when you order.

Revolving Medicine Center

$16.76

This revolving medicine center lets you load a whole month of pills at once instead of refilling a weekly box. It holds 31 separate daily containers, each with four sections, set in order on a rotating lower platform, so you turn the carousel to reach the right day. The upper deck is a shelf for pill bottles, either over-the-counter or prescription, or even small decorative items. It suits someone who wants to cut down on frequent refilling, or who finds a standard pill box fiddly. You'll still need to fill each container yourself, or have a caregiver do it.

Medi-Grip

$5.95

The Medi-Grip is a small, soft-gripping tool that helps you open medication and vitamin bottles when twisting off a cap is hard on the hands. Its grooves and notches are shaped to fit the most common prescription and vitamin bottles, so it grips the cap for you. It also has a built-in 4X magnifier, which makes it easier to read the label on a prescription bottle. It suits someone with a weak grip or sore hands who also struggles with small print. It is a single handheld tool, so it won't fit every cap style, and the magnifier is a modest 4X.

Reizen Braille Quartz Alarm Clock with Vibrating Option

$59.95

This quartz alarm clock has a tactile dial with raised Braille numbers, so you can tell the time by touch without any speech or screen. The alarm is set with a large notched dial on the back and turned on or off with a big side button. When it goes off, you hear a steady series of beeps. A top button snoozes the alarm, and pressing it at any time also lights up the glow-in-the-dark hands. The black face, oversized buttons, and removable clear cover also suit someone with low vision. It runs on an included AA battery. The vibrating option isn't built in: for a bed-shaker alert, you'd add a separate vibrator and adapter, and the adapter is needed to power the vibrator. That makes it a fit for people who are deaf-blind, too.

Reizen Braille Quartz Alarm Clock with Bed Shaker Combo

$69.95

This Braille quartz alarm clock has a tactile dial with raised Braille numbers and glow-in-the-dark hands, so you can read the time by touch or by sight. Large buttons and a notched dial on the back set the alarm, which sounds as steady beeps. The included bed shaker plugs in to wake someone who is deaf or hard of hearing without disturbing a partner. The shaker gets its power from the adapter, so both need to be plugged in. The clock itself runs on one AA battery, which is included, and at about 4 inches tall it's small enough to travel with.

Janus Interline Braille Slate with Saddle-Shaped Stylus

$7.63

The Janus slate is a small plastic braille writing tool that lets you write on both sides of a standard 3 x 5 inch index card without taking the card out. It has 11 lines with 19 cells per line, and the card slides in through a notched opening on one 3-inch side. The saddle-shaped stylus comes with it and attaches to a small hole in one corner, so it stays with the slate. At about 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches, it's a pocket-friendly way to jot quick braille notes, labels, or flash cards. You'll need index cards, which are not included.

Black Plastic Frame Readers with Spring Hinged Temples

$9.95

These are ready-made reading glasses in a classic black plastic frame. They help with reading small print up close, such as labels, menus, or a book. The temples (the arms that sit over your ears) have spring hinges, so they flex outward a little when you put them on and take them off. They come in strengths from +1.00 to +2.50, and you choose the strength when you order. Because they are over-the-counter readers, they are a simple fit for everyday close-up reading. They are not a replacement for an eye exam or a prescription.

Ladies Plastic Green Readers in Vogue

$9.95

These are over-the-counter reading glasses in a green plastic frame, styled to look like current women's prescription glasses. They help with close-up tasks like reading print, and they come in two strengths, +1.00 and +1.50 diopters (a measure of lens power). You choose the strength when you order, so it helps to know which power works for you before you buy. As readers, they're for close work only, not for wearing all day.

Ambutech Aluminum Folding Cane with Slip-On Tip

$28.08

This folding cane is made for people who are blind or have low vision and use a cane to find obstacles and get around. Its sections are heavy gauge aluminum covered in reflective Scotchlite material, joined by extra-long double elastic joints that add stiffness, and it folds down for carrying. The rubber golf-style grip has one flat side to help with comfort and control. It comes in lengths from 36 to 64 inches in 2-inch steps, and you pick the length when you order. Cane length matters a lot for safe, effective use, so it's worth getting help choosing it.

Round Tactile Wooden Clock

$19.95

This wooden clock teaches children to tell time by touch or by sight. Twelve numbered blocks fit into notches around the edge, and each block shows its number in bold black print on one side and raised tactile markings on the other. Beveled edges help a child turn each piece the right way to read the braille number. The blocks come in blue, red, yellow, and green (three of each) and have different shapes, so the clock also works for practicing numbers, colors, and shapes. The clock is about 8.75 inches across and weighs just under 2 pounds. It's a teaching toy rather than a working clock, so it won't keep real time.

Women's Purple Designer Readers

$6.76

These are ready-made reading glasses with a translucent purple frame, made for women who need a little extra magnification for close-up reading. They come in strengths from +1 to +3.0, and you choose your strength when you order. They're priced low enough that you can keep a pair in several rooms, a purse, or a car. Over-the-counter readers like these only add magnification. They aren't tailored to your eyes the way prescription glasses are, so an eye exam is still the best way to know what strength you need.

ClearSounds CSC600ER Amplified Emergency Telephone

$199.95

The CSC600ER is a corded-style home phone that makes calls louder and easier to use, and it lets you call for help from a wearable pendant with no monthly monitoring fee. It amplifies incoming sound up to 50dB with tone controls, has a 104dB adjustable ringer plus a bright visual ringer, and uses a big backlit keypad and display. The talking Caller ID, talking keypad and talking phonebook say numbers and names aloud, which helps if the screen is hard to read. The pendant can start an emergency call, answer or hang up calls, and works from up to 328 feet away, though walls and radio interference can shorten that. You'll need to record your emergency message and program the speed dials and emergency numbers, and the phone needs 4 AA batteries (not included) to keep its Caller ID and phonebook memory during a power loss.

Clarity P-340-M Amplified UC Corded USB Handset Optimized for MS Lync

$149.95

The Clarity P-340-M is a corded USB handset that lets you take computer calls through a phone-style receiver, with amplified sound for people who have trouble hearing callers. It's built for PC-based Unified Communications calling and is tuned for use with Microsoft Lync on Windows.

E814CC Amplified Phone- Answer Machine- Extra Handset

$144.95

The Clarity E814CC is a phone system for people who find regular phone calls hard to hear. It pairs a corded base phone with a cordless handset, and it amplifies sound up to 40 dB, with a boost button and four tone settings so voices come through clearer. The speakerphone allows hands-free calls, and the built-in answering machine plays messages back louder and stores up to 59 of them (about 25 minutes of recording). A large high-contrast Caller ID screen and big-number keypad make it easier to see who's calling and dial. It also has 5 one-touch memory buttons, 9 speed dial buttons, and a 50-entry phonebook. The Caller ID display lights up as a visual ringer, though it adds light to the ring, so it isn't a substitute for a fully visual alert. It can grow to four cordless handsets with additional D703HS units.

Dialogue AAC

$99.99

Dialogue AAC is an app for iPad and iPhone that lets adults who can read and spell communicate through a keyboard layout, with word prediction and quick phrases to speed things up. It is built for literate people who have trouble using their natural voice. It also includes the Essence vocabulary system, offered in 60-location and 84-location layouts to suit different visual and motor abilities. This is an app, not a device, so you'll need a compatible iPad or iPhone, and a speech-language pathologist can help match the layout and settings to the person.

Unity AAC

Unity AAC is a speech-generating app that helps someone communicate by tapping symbols that speak words and phrases aloud. It uses Minspeak multi-meaning symbols, so each symbol on the home screen opens a group of related words sorted by part of speech. The button locations stay consistent, which helps a person learn and recall words through repeated motor patterns. It comes with thousands of core and fringe words already stored, plus spaces you can edit to add your own vocabulary, and it has built-in teaching tools like an in-app tutorial, Vocabulary Builder, and Word Finder. It runs on iPhone, iPad, or Mac, so check that your Apple device is compatible before you commit. A 30-day trial is offered through a PRC-Saltillo account.

ClearSounds Amplified SOS Alert Phone- 110dB

$199.95

This corded amplified phone comes with a wearable pendant. Press the pendant's button and the base unit auto-dials up to 6 numbers you've programmed in, such as family members or a neighbor. The pendant works up to 195 feet from the base, and it can also answer and end calls from across the room. The phone itself is built for hard-to-hear calls: amplification up to 110dB with full-range tone control, a bright visual ringer, a speakerphone, and Caller ID that stores 99 names and numbers. A big backlit keypad and a large adjustable display make it easier to read and dial. There's no monthly fee, but that also means it isn't a monitored service. Calls go to the people you program in, not to a response center.

Listen Tech ListenTALK System 8 (LKS-8-A1)

$1,973.00

The ListenTALK System 8 is a portable assistive listening kit for rooms that hold up to 75 people. A speaker uses a transceiver to send their voice, and listeners wear receivers with an ear speaker. This helps people who have trouble hearing in a classroom, meeting room, or place of worship. Everything you need to start is packed in one carrying case, including the batteries, lanyards, and an ADA notification sign kit with a plaque and a window sticker. The user interface is simple, with no channel surfing. Because it is built for rooms up to 75, larger spaces would need a different system.

AAC Speak Helper

Free

AAC Speak Helper is a free Windows program that takes text you copy to the clipboard, then translates it, converts it between writing systems (such as Latin to Devanagari), and reads it aloud using text-to-speech voices from several providers. It's meant to be called from another AAC app on Windows that can run outside programs, so it helps most when someone needs to speak a language their AAC app's voices handle poorly. For example, a Ukrainian speaker could have their text turned into English for caregivers. It has no main window of its own, but a separate Configure app lets you set options and keep different settings files for different tasks. You'll need to run the server and client yourself and edit your pagesets to add a speak button, so it's not a plug-and-play tool.

Contacta Portable InfoLoop

$382.00

The Portable InfoLoop is a self-contained hearing loop for one-on-one conversations, with a built-in microphone, amplifier, and loop aerial in a single unit. A staff member talks near it, and a listener who switches their hearing aid or cochlear implant to t-coil mode hears the speech directly, with no extra receiver to wear. It suits places like bank counters, reception desks, pharmacies, checkout lanes, and one-on-one meetings. The magnetic field reaches only about 24 inches, so it works best when the listener stands or sits close. It runs on a built-in rechargeable battery for roughly 6 to 8 hours, weighs 3.5 pounds, and has an LED that shows signal and charge status. The listener's hearing device must have a working t-coil.

Proloquo2Go - AAC app with symbols - AssistiveWare

$124.99 – $249.99

Proloquo2Go is a symbol-based AAC app for iPad and iPhone that gives nonspeaking children and adults a way to speak out loud and start conversations. Because it can be personalized to fit different needs, it works for a wide range of communicators. Expect the app to be only part of the picture: a speech-language pathologist can help choose the right layout and vocabulary, and the person using it will need time and a communication partner who models using it.