My great aunt who is almost 90 y/o recently lost her hearing completely, hearing aids cannot help her. She is married to my gr uncle who has to write everything down. I believe cell phones are too complicated for them at this age, and would be an expense that seems too much also, when they just need something that will let my uncle say something to her if she's upstairs or in another room, because otherwise he had to get up and find her and write it down. And he does not get around well at all. I live in Delaware they live in North Carolina. My uncle asked if we could or something that would help so me and my mom thought cell phones for texting but I'm wondering if there is anything that is extremely basic that she can carry with her that will vibrate to notify her and show what is said on a screen. And if it only goes 1 way that's great if it goes both ways that’s great to. So besides cell phones is the anything else. Since it is just for use in their home between the 2 of them. Thank you for any assistance.
There are cards that can be used.
https://www.agingcare.com/questions/what-happened-to-the-food-they-always-bring-me-489818.htm?orderby=recent
Once deaf there is no aid that will help.
I think one is CapTel. In some cases the phone can be provided free.
I am sure there are others on the market.
I doubt that would be good for sitting and chatting but it would help and eliminate some of the writing notes. And I do not think they have small handheld versions.
My experience training my Mom (in her late 80s, with neuropathy and arthritis in her fingertips) on my old iPad was getting her to learn how to handle it at the edges and not touch the screen sending it to another page and getting lost, and also about charging it. I had to transition her from a flip phone to a RAZ phone that is more like a smart phone, and again, handling and touching the screen is still a struggle for her.
Maybe they still make pagers, which was worn on a belt and would buzz and vibrate. It won't send a message but would alert her to when her husband needs to tell her something.
How is your Aunt's memory? If it is impaired or failing, she won't be able to retain any new technology no matter how simple it would be.
I assume the conversations between your Great Aunt and Great Uncle are not urgent, best for them to continue what they have been doing. Now, the Great Uncle could use a personal size "white board" using a dark color pen to write, then just erase off. Office supply stores sell them.