The specification and drawings present a new method, apparatus and
software product for listening assistance to a user of a phone terminal
with a headset or a hearing aid for selective listening of a local
acoustic source in a noisy environment by said user utilizing a
combination of said phone terminal and said headset. The method for the
listening assistance comprises of placing the phone terminal near a
desired local acoustic source, switching a mode of the phone terminal to
a listening mode, providing to the headset or to the hearing aid a signal
(e.g., a wireless signal) generated by the phone terminal in response to
an acoustic signal from the local acoustic source, and providing to the
user an output acoustic signal generated by the headset or by the hearing
aid in response to that signal thus providing said listening assistance
to the user.