I use a Skype subscription to call a landline over wifi from Norway to a landline in the US. The purpose is to read aloud for someone who is blind. He's also 102 years old, so though his mind is sharp and he is very intelligent, he has had no experience whatsoever with the internet. He's never had internet and at age 102 it's not gonna happen.
His landline has a decent speaker (I gave him the phone I got for my father when I read to him in this way the last years of his life, so I know the speaker is good enough). I call his landline from Skype over wifi on my iPhone 11 Pro Max, he puts me on speaker, and off we go. The quality would likely be better if I just called his phone, but two hours a week of international calling is outside of my budget.
The problem is that I have to speak very loudly on my end. I do this for an hour twice a week, and it's pretty hard on my voice and throat. I initially tried various bluetooth solutions (Jabra 65T, JBL Everest Elite 750, Sony wf-1000xm3, first gen AirPods) as well as various wired solutions, including Apple's earpods. This evening I tried my Snowball Blue external USB mic, but it didn't seem to help.
I would have just kept shouting at him twice a week, but this evening I had a sore throat and nothing I tried worked well enough. We had to give up.
I realise that the sound quality is going to vary with Skype, regardless. I'm just wondering if there's something I don't know about audio that might help. I'm willing to invest in new equipment if that's the solution, or a different platform if there's something out there that lets me call landlines for a fixed amount of money, like Skype does.
Thanks in advance for any help!
His landline has a decent speaker (I gave him the phone I got for my father when I read to him in this way the last years of his life, so I know the speaker is good enough). I call his landline from Skype over wifi on my iPhone 11 Pro Max, he puts me on speaker, and off we go. The quality would likely be better if I just called his phone, but two hours a week of international calling is outside of my budget.
The problem is that I have to speak very loudly on my end. I do this for an hour twice a week, and it's pretty hard on my voice and throat. I initially tried various bluetooth solutions (Jabra 65T, JBL Everest Elite 750, Sony wf-1000xm3, first gen AirPods) as well as various wired solutions, including Apple's earpods. This evening I tried my Snowball Blue external USB mic, but it didn't seem to help.
I would have just kept shouting at him twice a week, but this evening I had a sore throat and nothing I tried worked well enough. We had to give up.
I realise that the sound quality is going to vary with Skype, regardless. I'm just wondering if there's something I don't know about audio that might help. I'm willing to invest in new equipment if that's the solution, or a different platform if there's something out there that lets me call landlines for a fixed amount of money, like Skype does.
Thanks in advance for any help!
