Radio for someone with poor eyesight

fwor

Lorian wrote: »

At £59 there is the Roberts play

Thanks - yes that's the style that we are thinking of now, with the controls on the face so they can be seen from her bed-bound position.

We're leaning towards a Pure Elan E3, which is very similar to the Roberts, but has the advantage of a rotary volume control on the face:

https://www.pure.com/uk/dab-radio/products/elan-e3/grey

david39

If your relative has access to WiFi in her room, this is the ideal application for the Amazon Echo.
No physical input required, just voice control.
Alexa play BBC Radio 2
Alexa play Talk Radio
Alexa play (any radio station in the world)
Alexa play some songs by Cliff Richard etc (needs Amazon Prime)
Alexa call John Smith (linked to smart phone and contact list)
Alexa read me Great Expectations (Audio book subscription needed)
The possibilities are endless.

[Deleted User]

I use a roberts mini revival, have one close to me on my bedside table and if I wake in the black of the night, I just stretch out my hand and press the left hand round large button down. I liked the radio so much that I bought another one for the kitchen. I use re-chargeable batteries, it can use normal batteries or be plugged in, has a wonderful sound and the right knob, turns with little clicks and all you do is push the knob to the click and press it down to change station. I use mine on fm. I cannot rate it high enough

this is the actual one I have

https://www.robertsradio.com/uk/products/retro-radios/revivals/revival-mini

elsien

None of the care homes I've been in (and I've been in a lot) offer wifi in the bedrooms.

GwylimT

david39 wrote: »

If your relative has access to WiFi in her room, this is the ideal application for the Amazon Echo.
No physical input required, just voice control.
Alexa play BBC Radio 2
Alexa play Talk Radio
Alexa play (any radio station in the world)
Alexa play some songs by Cliff Richard etc (needs Amazon Prime)
Alexa call John Smith (linked to smart phone and contact list)
Alexa read me Great Expectations (Audio book subscription needed)
The possibilities are endless.

Alexa requires quite clear speech, the one we have at work doesn’t recognise my fairly subtle Welsh accent. If a person has lost use of one side of their body after a stroke their speech is unlikely to be clear.

greyteam1959

Lorian wrote: »

At £59 there is the Roberts play

https://electrical.coop.co.uk/Roberts-Play-White-DAB-DAB-FM-RDS-Radio-with-Built-in-Battery-Charger-ROB-RAD-PLAY-W

I bought one of these for my Dad who has macular degeneration & arthritis in his hands.
You can set the station pre sets easily enough.
Can be used with rechargeable batteries in it.
The co op link seems a very good price as well

fwor

Thanks - the Roberts Mini Revival looks good, but we want one with station presets on individual buttons which are easy to see and reach on the face, not the top, because it has to go on an over-bed table.

Sadly her speech varies a lot during the day, and her voice can be very weak at times (loss of control of some of the muscles in the throat, which also affects swallowing) so nothing voice-controlled is likely to work.

We have ordered a factory-refurb Pure Elan E3 - if it turns out to be unusable we will be able to return it for the cost of the postage. Thanks all for the suggestions.

PennyForThem_2

Is there internet access? Alexa or Google is the answer. Voice controlled - Alexa Play (whatever station)

But probably not

pramsay13

I agree with the posts about the voice-controlled Amazon or Google products (I prefer Google Home).
If there is no internet access you can get a mobile broadband device such as the 4GEE Wifi for a monthly fee.

agrinnall

PennyForThem wrote: »

Is there internet access? Alexa or Google is the answer. Voice controlled - Alexa Play (whatever station)

But probably not

pramsay13 wrote: »

I agree with the posts about the voice-controlled Amazon or Google products (I prefer Google Home).
If there is no internet access you can get a mobile broadband device such as the 4GEE Wifi for a monthly fee.

The post from the OP immediately before these two posts makes it pretty clear that voice activation is absolutely not the answer in this case.