The circuit shown here is used to switch on a lamp when the tele- phone rings, if the ambient light is insufficient. The circuit uses only two ICs and it can be implemented very easily. A light dependent resistance (LDR), with about 5 kilo-ohms resistance in the ambient light and greather than 100 kilo-ohms in darkness, is at the heart of the circuit. The circuit is fully isolated from the phone lines and it draws current only when the phone rings. The circuit provides automatic switching on of a lamp during darkness when the phone is kept in a place such as the bedroom. source

When a phone line rings, there’s 90 V RMS AC at 20 HZ on the line. It’s enough to give you a jolt you won’t soon forget. Thus, it’s hard to miss! My favorite detection scheme looks like this. This is off the top of my head so you may have to twiddle component values a bit. Also, this is for driving logic circuits. I’ll treat your specific problem in a bit. Mostly, there is only DC or small signal AC (audio) on the phone line. C1 blocks the DC, and the R3-R2 voltage divider prevents the low level AC from having any effect. When the ring signal comes along (90V RMS) enough voltage is developed at the juncture of R3 and R2 that some charge is pumped into C2 via CR3. Protective diodes CR1 and CR2 ensure that the output of this circuit will not grossly exceed the power supply levels and thus damage the logic circuits it may drive.source

Many a times one needs an ex- tra telephone ringer in an ad- joining room to know if there is an incoming call. For example, if the telephone is installed in the drawing room you may need an extra ringer in the bedroom. All that needs to be done is to connect the given circuit in parallel with the existing telephone lines using twin flexible wires. This circuit does not require any external power source for its operation. The section comprising resistor R1 and diodes D5 and LED1 provides a visual indication of the ring. Remaining part of the circuit is the audio ringer based on IC1 (BA8204 or ML8204). This integrated circuit, specially designed for telec- om application as bell sound generator, requires very few external parts. It is readily available in 8-pin mini DIP pack.source

This circuit was designed to detect when a call is incoming in a cellular phone (even when the calling tone of the device is switched-off) by means of a flashing LED.The device must be placed a few centimeters from the cellular phone, so its sensor coil L1 can detect the field emitted by the phone receiver during an incoming call.source

The heart of the ringer is a chip-recorder ISD1110P IC, which can play as much as 10 seconds of telephone-quality recorded sound. A high-efficiency stepdown converter, IC1, allows the circuitry to operate from a supply voltage of 5 to 14V.By placing a circuit in series with the telephone, you can customize a phone ringer without modifying the phone.source