ALDs and Movies: Missed Opportunities and How to
Overcome Them - Part 3
By Steve Barber, Hard of Hearing Consumer and SHHH
Member
Part Two
Part Three
C. ALD Manufacturers, Distributors and Contractors
Most movie theater ALDs are developed by large manufacturers of FM or
infrared transmitters and receivers. They may be purchased directly from
the manufacturer, or through a distributor. They are frequently installed
and maintained by local contractors.
Whether you're an ALD manufacturer, a distributor or a contractor,
there are certain things you might consider.
A good ALD should offer coupling alternatives to meet the needs of your
customers. Headsets are nice for mild and moderate losses, but simply
won't work for severe and profound and high frequency losses. Headsets
should not only be hearing aid compatible (emit a magnetic signal that a
telecoil can receive), they should have a standard 3.5 mm female jack so
users can install neckloops, DAIs, or Silhouettes. Many customers with
hearing loss carry their own personal favorite coupling device. Every
theater should have at least a few compatible interfaces and should offer
a few neckloops for people that prefer them.
ALDs should make it easy to tell the battery level. Weak or dead
batteries are a major problem. When a customer gets an ALD with a dead
battery or one that fails during the show, the customer becomes very
annoyed!
Cosmetics matter! Newer designs that look more like high tech toys are
helping make hearing aids and ALDs more of a fashion statement, rather
than an embarrassment.
ALDs should avoid "conspicuous" designs and should NOT draw
attention to themselves! Many people still attempt to hide their hearing
loss. The last thing they want is something that will draw attention to
them and their hearing loss. One popular ALD headset found in movie
theaters today, has a RED LIGHT on the top of the headband. HELLO, is
anyone home? The red light tells the people who give out the headsets the
ALD is on and the battery is working, and that's great. However, if you
told me it was designed by someone who NEVER experienced hearing loss, or
had to use the product, I'd believe it.
Make ALDs so amazingly good that even people with normal hearing will
want them. Hearing assistance technology will eventually become common for
people with normal hearing. Rock stars, sports coaches, and even people on
the street are using ear appliances for audio players and telephones.
There will be a much broader market for ALDs in the future. The
manufacturer that figures out how to design products for the entire market
will have a huge advantage. The concept of Universal Design broadens your
marketplace and helps the largest number of people.
If you're a contractor, don't just sell and install equipment ... sell
complete solutions. Please offer posters, brochures, training packages and
continuing service/support contracts. These may be almost as important to
the success of the ALDs as the equipment, itself. You have a strong
interest in making the ALDs a success, and these things can help assure
success.
ALD manufacturers could start working with movie producers to build ALD
features that allow end users to control the balance between dialog and
other sounds via multi-track audio, or perhaps with noise canceling
headset technology too.
D. Hearing Aid Manufacturers and Hearing Healthcare Professionals
Hearing aid manufacturers and all healthcare professionals play an
important part in this story. So, here are some things they might
consider....
Never advertise hearing aids using verbage such as... "So small no
one will know you're wearing them." The message it sends is "You
don't want hearing aids." Sorry, but this is just the wrong message
to send!
Never design or sell a hearing aid with automatic features that can't
be overridden. It's true that automatic features (such as automatic volume
control, noise reduction or telecoils invocation) are great for people who
are unable to manage those items themselves. However, savvy hearing aid
users (and we're getting more savvy every day) will not buy hearing aids
that can't be controlled manually to cope with varying conditions (like
coupling with ALDs in movies).
Please make sure customers who could benefit from telecoils, DAI, ALDs
etc., are aware of those features and encourage them to consider them. Too
many hearing aid users are missing these benefits, and these benefits make
all the difference in the world.
When you sell hearing aids with telecoils, always demonstrate the
T-coil function with a decent ALD. Your customers will be amazed at how
great a telecoil can be in noise. If you get them hooked on ALDs, you can
be sure they'll investigate DAIs and booted FM systems too!
E. Movie Audio Producers and Distributors
There are a few things you can to help, but the future offers even
greater opportunity for you to improve the situation, especially as
digital distribution becomes more common.
Stop hiding the dialog in music and background and sound effects! Any
audiologist will tell you that for maximal speech perception, the dialogue
needs to be some 30 dB louder than the background noise. Please take
heed!!!! Even the best ALDs may not help hard of hearing people when the
entire soundtrack is filled with rumble and roar, music and noise, or when
dialog is intentionally whispered or mumbled.
In the future, supply soundtracks for movies in multiple tracks, so
individual customers (even customers with good hearing) can choose how to
balance the sound effects, music and background noise with the dialog.
Digital distribution of movies (both picture and audio) will offer
opportunities to help people with hearing loss and will require
coordination with ALD manufacturers so their receivers can handle the two
(or more) audio streams.
Finally, digital distribution and some cooperation with the receiver
industry offers the promise of captioned movies visible only to those who
want them. While that's not about ALDs in movies, it's an important thing
to prepare for.
The Bottom Line
ALDs offer an opportunity, and they hold promise for all! I like to
tell people that there's never a good time to have hearing loss, but there
has never been a better time to have hearing loss. If we all work at it,
the future will be wonderful, indeed ... and I'll see you at the movies.
Bio
Steve Barber has gradually lost most of his hearing over the last 25
years. He's retired from IBM and currently working as a software tester
for SAS Inc. Steve has been a volunteer/leader in Self Help for Hard of
Hearing People for 14 years and he served as the chairperson for the North
Carolina Council for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people during 4 of his 10
year tenure with that council. He built and maintains the NCSHHH web site
at www.nchearingloss.org and the Beyond-Hearing web site at
www.geocities.com/nc-shhh/bhframe.htm.
Part Two
Part Three
