Video Calling for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Partially Sighted Loved Ones
For families looking for an alternative to the phone.
The call arrives on the television and answers itself. It asks nothing of the person receiving it.
Almost every device made for people with hearing or sight loss is built around what the person can still manage. Bigger buttons. Louder rings. They all start from the same question. How do we make a phone this person can still operate?
CallGenie started from a different question. Graham built it because he couldn’t find a way to keep in touch with his own mother. Everything on the market still needed something from her. So he built the one thing that didn’t.
The call arrives on the television and answers itself. It asks nothing of the person receiving it.
If you’ve been looking at phones for the hard of hearing, or phones for people with sight loss, and none of them convinced you, this is the option you probably haven’t come across.
Two Different Needs, One Simple Answer
Hearing loss and sight loss are not the same problem, and they don’t need the same thing. So it’s worth taking them one at a time.
Hearing Loss
For deaf and hard of hearing loved ones. A big screen for lip reading and full signing, live subsistles with sound through the television.
Read this section →
Sight Loss
For partially sighted friends and family members. Nothing to find, large on screen subtitles, and you get to see they are well.
Read this section →
For Deaf and Hard of Hearing Loved Ones
Why ordinary phones fall short
For someone hard of hearing, a phone held to the ear is a struggle. The speaker is small and the sound is thin, so voices get lost.
For someone who is deaf, a voice call isn’t an option at all. And a video call on a mobile or tablet brings its own problem. The screen is too small to follow lip movements or read sign language clearly.
Then there’s the ring itself. A phone that can’t be heard is a call that’s missed.
67%
of deaf people said they had no accessible way of contacting their GP
Research by the deaf health charity SignHealth. A follow-up report in 2025 found little had changed.
What CallGenie changes for hearing loss
CallGenie brings the call to the biggest screen in the house. The television.
The picture is large and clear. Faces, expressions, lip movements and full signing are easy to see. For someone who reads lips or signs, the size of the screen makes a genuine difference.
The sound comes through the television’s own speakers rather than a small handset pressed to the ear. CallGenie also has live subtitles for those who can’t sign or lip read
And nothing gets missed. CallGenie answers automatically. There’s no ring to catch in time and no button to find. The call is simply there.
A Note On Relay Services
You may have come across SignVideo. It puts a qualified BSL interpreter on the call so a deaf person can get through to their GP, their bank or the council, and the organisation pays for it. Useful, but a different job. CallGenie has no interpreter. It’s for seeing the people you love.
Sight Loss: The Video Phone For The Partially Sighted
What CallGenie changes for sight loss
Sight loss covers a wide range, and CallGenie helps in different ways across it.
For someone with low or fading vision, the big, bright TV screen is far easier to see than a phone. And because there’s nothing to find, press or read, the call doesn’t depend on their eyesight to work.
For someone who is fully blind, we’re careful about what we promise. A video call isn’t a visual experience for them. But the call still arrives with nothing to find and nothing to read. You can also add a single button they can press to call you themselves, found by touch rather than sight, though it does sit over by the television. And when you call, you get to see they’re well, which a voice call can’t offer. We’ll come to both.
The part a voice phone can’t offer
When you call, you don’t just hear that your mum is alright. You can see it. You can see she looks well and that all is as it should be.
For a loved one who can’t easily show you how they are, that’s real peace of mind coming back to you.
Already know it’s right for your loved one?
When More Than One Thing Is Going On
Hearing loss and sight loss rarely arrive on their own. Often they come alongside memory problems, or difficulty with movement and grip.
This is where the usual answers start to fail. A big-button phone still has to be found and pressed, which is hard with arthritis. A voice phone still has to be spoken to at the right moment, which is hard with memory loss. Each device lowers one barrier while leaving the others standing.
CallGenie doesn’t lower the barrier. It takes it away. Because the call needs nothing from the person, it keeps working when more than one difficulty is in play.
If your loved one is also living with memory loss, our dementia page looks at that in detail. If movement or dexterity is the challenge, see our limited mobility page.
How CallGenie Works
Make a Call
Family or friends make a video call to CallGenie using either your smartphone, tablet, or computer using Microsoft Teams. The user can make
Auto Answer on the Television
CallGenie will turn on the television, and switch automatically to the input for the video call. No buttons required.
Enjoy Your Call
Enjoy having your catch up with your loved one on the big screen. When you end the call on your device CallGenie will automatically switch the television back to the previous state, whether the previous channel or back into standby.
If They Want To Call You
CallGenie is built so that receiving a call asks nothing at all. If you'd also like your loved one to be able to call out, you can add a button.
Each button calls one person and carries their name. They plug into the unit behind the television, but it does mean they sit by the television rather than by the chair. That makes this part of CallGenie better suited to someone who can get up and cross the room.
Press one and it calls that person. When the person they've called hangs up, the television goes back to whatever was on before.
Two things worth knowing. The buttons don't beep, so the confirmation is the television coming on. And the name is printed, so it only helps if your loved one can read it. If reading is difficult, for any reason, start with a single button they can find by touch.
Buttons are an optional extra. If you'd rather keep things to receiving calls only, you simply don't add any.
What You Need At Your End
You call from Microsoft Teams on your phone, tablet or computer. That's the only part anyone has to operate, and it's the part you're doing, not them.
If you sign, it's worth thinking about your own camera position. Family members who use BSL usually prop the phone up or work from a laptop, so both hands are free and the signing stays in frame. At their end, you appear at full television size.
Group calls work too, so you can bring a second person into the same call.
Pauline and Marion’s Story
A real story from one of our CallGenie Users
Pauline was born deaf and used British Sign Language all her life. As her eyesight began to fade, staying in touch became harder and harder. A mobile screen was too small to see signing clearly, and she couldn’t hear it ring.
CallGenie changed that. On the large TV screen, Pauline could see her friend Marion signing clearly again, and the call answered itself, so a missed ring was never a worry. The two of them picked up right where they’d left off.
Her deaf support worker, Laura, came to rely on it too. She drops in for a quick welfare check between her other appointments, and calls ahead of visiting to ask whether Pauline needs anything from the shop. Before CallGenie, an unanswered mobile meant asking a neighbour to look in. She can also bring Marion into the same call, so the three of them go through medical appointments and medication together.
Pauline is one person living with two challenges at once, deafness and sight loss, and CallGenie worked for her because it asked nothing of her.
What Families Say About CallGenie
Stories from real families. These are some of the families who have found a way to stay close.
“My father has hearing difficulties, so is unable to use the phone and lives 200 miles away. His hearing aids seem to pick up the TV better than a phone also he is able to see me. Overall, it has greatly improved our communication and we use it nearly every day.”
“I purchased the CallGenie software to help my 91 year old grandma see more of her great-grandchildren. My grandma loves it, she is always amazed by the video quality (she has poor eyesight and used a smartphone before).“
“Mam is severely sight impaired with moderate dementia’. She can’t remember or see well enough to use her phone. CallGenie helps us communicate. We can call her even if the tv is on standby.“
“In the past we have used FaceTime on iPads but my mum’s hearing is not good (she has hearing aids) and she struggles at times with the iPad controls. Having the CallGenie has been amazing. She can now have video calls with us using her TV which means the picture is bigger, the sound is better, and it feels like we are in the room with her.”
Tried, Tested and Trusted by Families Across the UK
Every device is set up remotely by our team. We work directly with each family before the first call is made. There are no call centres and no automated support lines, just straightforward, personal help from someone who understands what families are going through.
CallGenie is recognised by organisations that families and professionals already trust.
AgeSpace
Recommended by one of the UK’s leading eldercare guides.
NHS Highland
Listed by name in the Technology Enabled Care guide to simple video calling devices.
West Lothian HSCP
Featured as assistive technology for preventing social isolation.
What you get, and what happens next
CallGenie arrives ready to work. Everything needed is in the box, including the unit, the camera and the cables that plug into the television. There’s no app for your loved one to download and no account for them to set up.
You plug it in, connect it to their Wi-Fi and their television, and then we finish the setup with you on a video call. That session is included, not an extra.
There are no monthly fees. You pay once. Twelve months of support and warranty come with it, by email, phone or remote access, so most problems can be sorted out without anyone coming to the house. You can extend that cover to three years if you’d rather.
Only the people you add can call in. Nobody else can reach the television.
And if we can’t get CallGenie working properly on their television, you get your money back under our refund policy.
Will it work with their television?
Almost certainly. CallGenie works with televisions from 20 to 75 inches. It needs a feature called HDMI-CEC, which is standard on nearly all smart televisions and on most sets made since 2010. The exception we know of is televisions running Amazon Fire TV Edition, including Amazon’s own branded sets, which we can’t control.
If you’re not sure, send us the make and model and we’ll check before you order. It’s the first thing we’d ask anyway.
VAT relief
If your loved one is chronically sick or disabled, CallGenie can normally be bought without VAT. Most older people with a long-term condition qualify, including for hearing and sight loss.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will CallGenie work for someone who wears hearing aids?
Yes. Hearing aids can connect to CallGenie because it’s a mini PC. And because the sound comes through the television’s own speakers rather than a handset, many people find they hear the call clearly without any pairing at all. If you’d like us to check their particular hearing aids first, get in touch.
If the call answers itself, how do they turn the volume up?
Is the screen big enough for sign language?
Yes. That’s one of the main reasons families with a deaf loved one come to us. On a television, full signing is easy to follow, with hands and face visible at once. If they’ve struggled to follow signing on a phone or tablet, this is the difference they’ll notice first.
Is CallGenie a video relay or interpreter service?
No. Relay services like SignVideo put a qualified BSL interpreter on the call so a deaf person can reach their GP, their bank or the council, and the organisation pays for it. CallGenie has no interpreter and doesn’t connect you to services. It’s for seeing family and friends directly on the television. Plenty of people use both.
How is this different from a voice-operated phone?
A voice-operated phone such as RealSAM Pocket suits someone who wants to operate a device themselves and can tell it what they want. CallGenie starts from the opposite assumption, that nothing can be asked of the person at all. Some families end up with both, one for independence and one for seeing each other.
Will CallGenie work for someone with both hearing and sight loss?
Often, yes, though it depends how much sight and hearing remain. Pauline, who was born deaf and later lost much of her sight, uses CallGenie to sign with her friend Marion on the big screen. Re Where there’s no useful vision at all, a video call isn’t the right answer and we’d say so rather than sell you one. Get in touch and we’ll talk it through honestly.
Can they call me, or only receive calls?
They can, with the optional call buttons. See If they want to call you for how they work and what to weigh up.
Do we need fast broadband at their end?
They’ll need high-speed broadband, ideally fibre, with at least 2 Mbps upload and download. Most home broadband comfortably clears that. If you’re not sure what they have, tell us and we’ll help you check.
Staying close, made simple
If someone you love is living with hearing or sight loss, you shouldn’t have to teach them a new device or worry whether they can manage it. With CallGenie there’s nothing for them to manage. You call, and you’re there on their TV, face to face, clear and easy.
Every other device starts by asking what your loved one can still do. CallGenie was designed from the start to ask nothing of them at all. That’s why it keeps working as hearing and sight change.
Because staying connected with family should never feel out of reach.
Contact Us
Ask a question or check your television will be compatible with CallGenie
Phone
+44 (0)1252 918824
Address
45 Fairhaven Avenue, West Mersea, Essex, CO5 8EZ, UK