Herb

Herb is a 48-year-old former Air Force pilot with mild hearing limitations. He is highly savvy about technology and has little tolerance for products that don’t accommodate his physical and hearing limitations as he gets older.

“I have to accept there are things I can't do as well anymore. I can see that in my mom, though she has additional mental problems. That doesn't mean I have to like it, or buy products that make me feel “handicapped”.  Herb’s mother lives alone, about 20 miles away. 

Herb describes himself as a “techie outdoorsman”. He has his favorite fishing spots logged into his GPS handheld, uses most of the features of his mobile phone (caller ID and amplifier most frequently), and he declares “My VCR says '12:00' only two times each day - not all the time”.

When he was flying, Herb always turned his radio headset to nearly full volume, and sometimes had difficulty separating signals from background noise, especially high and low pitches. Because he now works outdoors a lot, Herb has similar needs and finds use of a Bluetooth headset helpful.

Other important mobile phone features for Herb include:

·         Durability and toughness

·         Light weight

·         High audio fidelity, along with higher volume  - “Clearer sound – not just more sound”

·         Keypad tone adjustability

·         Ring tone selection and volume adjustability