Harebrain WhisperPhone Solo Learning Aid

We have children who talk too loud and a niece who talks too quietly. Rather than constantly battling to either hear because my brain is fried from them talking too loudly, or fried from straining to hear them if talking too quietly, I can ask them to put it on and they adjust their volume. Like a magic button. If there is any resistance to putting it on, it needs to be clear that they need to adjust their volume if they refuse to put it on. Also good for kids who complain during games. Rule is that they have to wear it if we play. Then as soon as they start to yell out, they hurt their own ear and have to adjust their attitude!

My daughter's voice unintentionally projects very loudly, and I often ask her to use her soft voice. She loves to "read out loud with expression" and play with dolls, but the rest of the family can't concentrate on their own projects with the volume level. This product has been wonderful! She says she feels like a rockstar with a headset on, and she can read aloud and play at a reasonable level, all while hearing herself loud and clearly. The first day she had it on while doing schoolwork and started to speak at her normal very loud level. She abruptly stopped and said, "Oww!" with a grin and continued her question to me at a nice soft level. Our whole family loves the whisperphone! My daughter loves her gadget and we love the quiet. Homeschooling is easier on everyone, and even camping is happier because now others can actually sleep even if she wants to read awhile.

I tried the WhisperPhone Solo with my daughter because she has been struggling with reading, and I thought it would be a helpful way for her to hear the sounds as she reads. The product itself worked great and was easy to use, but unfortunately, she didn’t really like using it. Because she wasn’t comfortable with it, it just wasn’t a tool that worked well for us. I can see how it could be useful for other children working on phonemic awareness and reading fluency, but it simply wasn’t a good fit for my daughter.

I got this for my 4-year-old granddaughter who loves to retell pictures books to herself. (She has memorized several of her favorite library books I have read repeatedly to her.) When the WhisperPhone Solo arrived we had trouble figuring out how to put it one her. I went to Amazon and watched the video which had a good picture of how it looks when on. I printed out a picture from the video to refer to. I put the WhisperPhone Solo on her and had her sit down with two of her favorite picture books, Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush by Jane Cabrera and The Three Little Pigs by Bernadette Watts. I walked away, and she began to have a grand time retelling the stories. She had even more fun than usual, probably because she could hear herself so well. We already had a Toobaloo, but that couldn't leave her hands free to turn the pages. I like that the WhisperPhone Solo is Made in America, is inexpensive, lightweight, and nonelectric. It fits both my granddaughter and myself very comfortably. Those reviewers who found it didn't fit may not have had it on properly.

We bought this for our grandson who is autistic. He whispers when and if he talks, so definitely liked the idea of how it allowed him to hear his own voice. At first he let us put it on, and actually was engaged with it for a while, but the design is terrible for any head. Shortly thereafter he would have no part of it. Awkward and doesn't fit or adjust so that's it's comfortable, and actually kind of clumsy at best. Although the acoustic sound is terrific, the application fails miserably. Very disappointed because we were hoping this would be an exciting approach for him to start projecting when he spoke.