Panasonic (News - Alert), developer of cordless home telephones, has announced a new cordless telephone designed with three unique features which make it easy for use by people with hearing loss, low vision and arthritis.

The company’s new telephone, Model KX-TG6591T, which received the Ease-of-Use commendation from the Arthritis Foundation, has been fitted with the Tone Equalizer, Talking Caller ID and Any Key Answer. The new phone uses the Tone Equalizer feature, common to all 2011 Panasonic cordless phones, to enhance audible quality with a simple toggle switch and is easy to use as all operations can be achieved through minimal button pushing.

In a release, Bill Taylor (News - Alert), president of Panasonic System Networks Company of America, said, "Panasonic is committed to designing accessible products that advance the principles of universal design -- attractive, unobtrusive and easy to use for people of a variety of ages and ability levels.” "As we age, many people want a phone that meets our changing needs but do not want to sacrifice design and functionality."

Natalye Faison, Au.D, audiologist for the Panasonic Healthcare Group, which develops and manufactures innovative digital hearing instruments,  commented, "Aside from being a stressful and frustrating effect of hearing loss, difficulty hearing on the telephone can negatively impact one's quality of life," said. "Many people with hearing loss find it especially difficult to hear certain sounds because their hearing loss may affect only a specific range of pitches. Panasonic's new phones offer the flexibility to control the bass, mid-range or treble tones in a caller's voice for maximum clarity."

Some of the key features in the telephone providing increased usability for people with low vision and arthritis include a Talking Caller ID, which announces Caller ID information between rings to leverage text-to-speech technology; and an Any-key Answer through which a call can be answered by the press of any button. The rubberized Non-slip Handset grip has been added to prevent the instrument from slipping from the hands.  

The hand-set also comes with large, rubberized backlit buttons and an easy-to-read white backlit LCD display, and has been provisioned with a hands-free speakerphone on both the handset and the base unit.

The KX-TG6591T has also been fitted with a Proprietary DECT (News - Alert) 6.0 Plus technology, providing higher-quality sound with an expanded range, and an Intelligent Eco Mode which brings down power consumption if the handset is used close to the base unit. The Call Block option can be utilized to block and move unwanted calls to a block calls list. The new model additionally comes with a Silent Mode option using which users can customize the handset to not ring during selected hours.