Can't hear my cell phone in the shop - wife is frustrated

[Roger Feeley]

Back in the day, we had a land-line and I had a warehouse bell in the shop that would wake the dead. Now things have changed a lot.

-- We moved and now live in in-law quarters which is a separate building from the main house. My wife is nanny to our grandson.
-- We no longer have a land line. We each have cell phones.

From time to time, she wants to reach me from the main house when I'm in the our basement. Worse, I might be running a loud machine with dust collection and wearing ear protection.

What I need is something that my bluetooth phone connects to and sounds a very loud ring tone of some sort or flashes a light or klaxon or something. Further, it needs to be powered from AC with no battery. I want to connect it to the light switch so it doesn't work unless the lights are on in the basement.

I've hunted for something and it seems that everything just misses the mark. Bluetooth speakers are legion but they don't appear to ring with an incoming call. They do mute but that doesn't do me much good since I always listen to NPR on a radio.

There are Bluetooth enabled ear protection muffs. That would be ideal since I would be wearing them if I'm doing something loud. But most seem to be for streaming music. The thing missing in the description is what happens when there is an incoming call.

ION Tough Sounds sounded good until I read the reviews. It seems that they aren't very loud.

So, here is what I want.
-- Muffs:
- I want something that plays FM.
- When I turn it on, it should connect to my phone via Bluetooth
- When there is an incoming call, I want it to play some distinctive sound.
-- Speaker:
- I want something that is AC powered only
- it needs to be loud.
- it should automatically connect to my phone.
- when there is an incoming call, it should make a distinctive sound that can be heard over all the shop commotion.

I don't care about a full HandsFree experience. I just want to be notified of the call.

Has anyone on the Creek fought this fight?

[Rich Colvin]

Roger,

Consider something that isn't audible but visual. I have certain lights in my basement shop hooked to a switch at the top of the stairs. When my wife flashes them, I see them quickly, regardless of the noise level.

Kind regards,
Rich

[Roger Feeley]

I would add that I now have the aforementioned warehouse bell working locally. Since it was designed to work with the phone system, it was fairly complex.

120VAC -> 12vdc convert
wired to
12vdc -> 70vac (20hz)
wired to
Bell

I bought a remote relay off of Amazon with two fobs that can handle the 12v. the range isn't that good. So far, it works inside our house but no from the other house. I'm looking into a high gain antenna for 315Mhz to see if I can boost the range.

So, by the end of the day, we will be better off. At least she won't have to come downstairs to get my attention. In the old days, she used her cell to call the land line to ring the bell or just came downstairs and flashed the lights. Now, with two buildings involved, it's more complicated.

[Roger Feeley]

Thanks Rich. See my addenda. We are pretty good when she is actually in our house. It's when she is in the other house or maybe approaching in the car with the baby and needs help. For that, I really need something that sees an incoming cell call. You would think there would be an app for that....

Incoming call event on the phone ->> triggers some app-->> App streams a ring tone out to a speaker of some sort.

What I've learned is that most speakers run the audio profile but not the HandsFree Profile. Or they run just enough of HFP to mute.

Problem solved.

I looked at the jobsite radios thinking they would want to alert you of a call in a noisy environment but came up empty or inconclusive. The docs for the BT enabled radios don't specifically answer the question, "What happens when you get an incoming call." Those that do, generally just say that they mute the music. That's nice but I want them to go one step further and give you an alert.

[Adam Herman]

search for the incipio prompt would this work? its a bluetooth flashing light. if nothing else, you could use this and trigger a relay off the led to rig a bell or something.

[Roger Feeley]

Thanks Adam,
You got closer than I did. Now if I can just amp it up as you suggested.

[Leo Graywacz]

Well, here's a start. It's bluetooth and it flashes a LED. But I'd say that won't be enough. If you could also get something that will activate from the LED flashing on the device I'd say you have what you want.

So here is part 'A'

https://www.hearworldusa.com/alertin...ring-signaler/

[Mike Henderson]

Here's about the only place where having a hearing disability is an advantage. I have bluetooth enabled hearing aids. I can listen to music from my cell phone and if a call comes in, the music is interrupted and I hear a ring. If I'm not listening to music, I just hear a ring in my ears.

I might add that bluetooth enabled hearing aids have changed my life. I used to have real problems hearing on the phone. Now that the sound is right in my ears, through my hearing aids, it has opened up the use of the phone for me again.

It' probably too expensive for you to buy a set of hearing aids that wouldn't amplify sound, but would give you the advantages I described.

Mike

[andy bessette]

When working in the shop keep your cell phone set on "silent" and you'll feel the buzzing in your back pocket.

[Roger Feeley]

Thanks, Mike,

I should probably be evaluated for hearing aids myself. May I ask which BT hearing aids you have. They are relatively new.

I think ReSound was first to the market and what I heard sounded pretty good. Supposedly, you could use your phone to configure the optimum settings for a location and then store the profile. So, for instance, if you have the best profile for church, your phone app would know that any time you were at church to switch to that profile. Go from there to a sports bar and the profile would change. That could be pretty sweet. I still remember taking my mom to the hearing aid guy to have her aids adjusted. He would ask her about the things she did and places she went and try to give her a single profile that would suit all situation.

[Roger Feeley]

Thanks Leo,

That device is pretty much the same as the Incipio Prompt and would require the same sorts of hacks. I like them both. The prompt is $20 which makes it a lot more attractive to me since I would tear it apart day one.

[Peter Aeschliman]

Similar to Mike's bluetooth hearing aids, how about just getting some bluetooth ear muffs? Peltor, 3M, etc make them. Benefit is that you can listen to music too.

Seems like a much simpler solution than wiring up lights and bells.

[Mike Henderson]

Thanks, Mike,

I should probably be evaluated for hearing aids myself. May I ask which BT hearing aids you have. They are relatively new.

I think ReSound was first to the market and what I heard sounded pretty good. Supposedly, you could use your phone to configure the optimum settings for a location and then store the profile. So, for instance, if you have the best profile for church, your phone app would know that any time you were at church to switch to that profile. Go from there to a sports bar and the profile would change. That could be pretty sweet. I still remember taking my mom to the hearing aid guy to have her aids adjusted. He would ask her about the things she did and places she went and try to give her a single profile that would suit all situation.

I have the ReSound aids, but I think there's another company who also makes a good Bluetooth aid. Be sure the company has Bluetooth "in the aid". Some hearing aid companies claim to have Bluetooth but what they have is a separate device you have to hang around your neck, which I find very inconvenient.

Also, don't make the Bluetooth the only thing you judge the aid by. Make sure it works for you (or your relative) as a hearing aid. You'll use it that way more than as a Bluetooth device. Different aids work better for different people so just because ReSound works well for me doesn't mean it will work well for another person.

The interface to the iPhone for me is very intuitive and easy (for the aids).

Mike

[Bill Jobe]

Like Andy said, just put it on vibrate and stick it in your pocket.

[andy bessette]

Like Andy said, just put it on vibrate and stick it in your pocket.

This solution is not complicated or expensive enough.