See the full product review with 'at a glance' comparison chart in One in Seven magazine.

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Product review: We look at a selection of eco-friendly products.

Everyday products from TV sets to telephones are increasingly being sold on their green credentials but are they suitable for people who are deaf or hard of hearing?

You may want to 'do your bit to save the planet' or you may think the whole idea of climate change is over-hyped but, whatever your view, there's no escaping the fact that using less energy and recycling waste is very much on the agenda these days. Insulating your loft, fitting draught excluders to your windows and doors and switching off equipment when it's not in use can all help and now there's a growing range of everyday electrical products that consume less energy or are made from recycled or environmentally friendly materials.

You might wonder what all this has to do with being deaf or hard of hearing. The answer is that so-called 'green' or 'eco-friendly' products are out there and it's important that they have features that make them easy to use and accessible to all. We can't cover all the possibilities here but we can look at a few choice products to see how they rate in terms of accessibility and ease of use.

A few well-known household brand names have introduced alternative ways to power their products. Last year, Roberts Radio launched the world's first solar-powered DAB radio called solarDAB. If you enjoy listening to the radio, and if you wear a hearing aid, you may want to know if it will work with a neckloop or ear hook, so we tested the solarDAB with these – see page 38. We also tested a Bluetooth solar-powered headset for use with mobile phones and looked at how solar power can be used to charge hearing aid batteries…

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Member soundbites

When you are referred by your GP for hearing aids, it is usually an NHS audiologist who provides and programmes them to suit you, free of charge, at your local hospital or health centre. Now, some Primary Care Trusts are agreeing contracts with private companies to provide this service for the NHS instead. Have you experienced this?

We asked our members: Does it matter who delivers NHS hearing-aid services (NHS audiologists or private companies), as long as the services are free? Do you think it matters who you go to? If so, why?

See member views, and RNID's feedback.

Become a member to read the full story in February 2010's One in Seven magazine and get involved in our campaigns work.

Campaigns: Keep us in the loop… find out how to support RNID's loop campaign.

For the last two years we've been collecting data about your experiences of induction loops in public places. Inside the back page of this issue of One in Seven you will find your own copies of our new, improved induction loop complaint cards. These can be handed to a member of staff whenever you experience a problem with a loop. Please fill in your cards when you are out and about and then post the form back to us free of charge.

Loop systems

Induction loops in public places should be easy to use – so long as your hearing aid has a 'T' setting. Check with your audiology clinic or hearing aid dispenser if you're not sure. In some shops or banks, you may need to ask a member of staff to turn a loop system on at a till. Some venues prefer to use infrared systems – for these you will need a special receiver, which will be provided by staff.

Problems and solutions

If you find there are problems using a loop system, there are a number of things you can try. The most important thing to make sure is that your hearing aid has a 'T' setting and that this is working properly. Check with your audiologist or dispenser to make sure it's properly set up. If you know your hearing aid is working and still experience problems, speak to staff. It could be that the loop isn't switched on or that it is faulty. You may need to ask for the manager, who should have more information about loops and their setup. Explain the problems you are having accessing the service. Hand over a complaint card so that the service can find out more on our website. To get involved in the campaign, and request your induction loop cards, email us at campaigns@rnid.org.uk.

Read the full Janine Roebuck interview.

The interview first appeared in One in Seven, RNID's membership magazine.

Become a member of RNID to receive One in Seven magazine every two months and a free copy of The Facts About Hearing Aids.

Janine Roebuck: Sing it loud

Glamorous but never a diva, opera singer Janine Roebuck throws a few notes the way of Alice Lagnado.

"I was at the supermarket and I couldn't hear what the chap at the checkout was saying to me and I said 'Sorry?' and he sighed, eyes heavenward, twice, and I was toying with the idea of throttling him" – she giggles – "and then I thought, how could he possibly know? I said it's not that I'm not paying attention, it's that I'm deaf, and he was mortified then, and couldn't help me enough. So we must remember that we're not wearing a flashing neon badge and people are not mindreaders. We do need to express our needs in a non-aggressive manner." And she laughs. And this is opera singer Janine Roebuck all over, always finding the best side of things.

She relates another story when all the passengers disembarked from a train she was on, but she couldn't hear the announcements so didn't know which platform to go to catch the next one. "I was shocked at how vulnerable I felt."

Janine Roebuck comes to meet me on a freezing road by a south London railway station, driving up in her yellow Honda Jazz, her hair a pretty reddish colour, a CD of opera singer Anna Netrebko in the car, all colour and warmth. We go into her house, four cats waiting for us. It's a privilege, seeing inside someone's house, and tells you as much as the conversation you have. Janine's living room is on the second floor, and is in perfect order, no clutter, but also very comfortable. The bathroom signals that this is the home of a glamorous, grown-up woman, with its array of classy potions, and the home of a woman living alone, because there is not a masculine accoutrement in sight. Her whole house, indeed, is strikingly feminine, with its soft pale sofas and long-haired cats, and feels like a retreat from the urban grey of Vauxhall.

If you're looking for angry, if you're looking for someone noisy and radical, you've come to the wrong place. Janine Roebuck is more of a practitioner of quiet diplomacy.

Familiar with, and unthreatened by, the whole gamut of deaf culture, from BSL users to newly deafened people, she is interested in campaigning or change for people with hearing loss. To that end she is the newest Trustee of RNID, getting elected in November.