There's a growing movement in the US to greatly increase the locations
that provide loops. Read all about Let's Loop America!
Interested in where loops are or should be
installed?
November
2001 - Interested in a simple and inexpensive group assistive listening
device that's very effective? Perhaps an audio loop is what you're
looking for. Here's
a bunch of great information from the 2001 SHHH Convention Audio Loop
Panel.
May 2003 - If you're interested in the
science of induction loops, here's a great article
that explains it all, complete with figures, graphs, and equations!
August 2003 -
Here's a powerful story from Denise Portis on watching TV
using a loop system.
October 2004 - Here's
David Myers' update on induction loops.
January 2005 -
David
Myers reports that half of hearing aids sold in the US now come with
telecoils!
January 2006 - I
recently sat surrounded by several hundred others in London's Gatwick
Airport departure lounge, straining to hear announcements about my
delayed flight. Alas, the loudspeaker sound was too distant and foggy
for my hard-of-hearing ears. But hold it. This was the United Kingdom, a
country whose cathedrals, churches, and auditoriums now broadcast sound
wirelessly to hearing aids. . . . Knowing all this, at the airport I
turned my hearing aids to their T setting. Voilą! Suddenly I was
hearing announcements broadcast from inside my ears. Full
Story
August 2006 - In a looped America, hearing aids would be twice as valuable
December 2006 - Grand
Rapids airport to help hearing impaired
January 2007 - Looping
America - One Community at a Time
February
2007 - Looping system in public rooms improves
hearing
February 2007 - Leeds
Advocates Encourage Businesses to Install and Maintain Loops
March
2007 - Keeping Everyone in the Loop!
August 2007 -
Let's bring New Mexico into hard-of-hearing loop
November 2007 - Hearing Aids Alone Won't Do the Trick
January 2008 -
Induction Loop Basics for Houses of Worship
April 2008 -
More Praise for Induction Loops
June 2008 - Michigan Airport Announces New Hearing Loop
System
June 2008 - Looping of New York Taxis is Underway
July 2008 -
Induction Loop Makes HOA Meetings Accessible
August 2008 -
Looped Movie Theater - Is That a Great Idea or What?
August 2008 - New Zealand Airport installs induction
loop!
September 2008 -
We've Looped West Michigan. Could We Loop America?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 2003
I realize that this article will only appeal to the technogeeks (like
me) in our audience. It's a very thorough and complete explanation of
how induction loops work - complete with graphs, charts, and equations.
The paper is written by Leon Pieters, who is the Managing Director of
Ampetronic, a company that designs and installs these systems. Leon
says, "You will need pencil, paper and a strong Cappuccino to
understand this." He's right!
Point your browser to http://www.dt4u.com/dtsystems/looptech.htm
Thanks to Bob MacPherson of bhNEWS for the lead on this site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August
2006
"Imagine a
future where hearing aids serve not only as sophisticated microphone
amplifiers, but also as customized, in-the-ear loudspeakers for the
binaural broadcast of television, a PA system, and telephone sound. In the
United Kingdom, and now in part of Michigan, this imagined future is fast
becoming reality. "Might the combined efforts of hearing professionals,
the hearing industry, and people with hearing loss enable hearing
id-compatible assistive listening to spread across this nation- to the
betterment of hard-of-hearing consumers and those who serve them?"
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January
2007
An
inexpensive and unobtrusive system called the "loop" can solve
these inconveniences and allow patients to improve the quality and
comfort of day-to-day interactions that most people take for granted.
Any person that walks into a looped home or venue can put their hearing
aids in the T-coil position and receive the crisp, clear binaural
broadcast of a private speaker system, television, PA system or
telephone sound. Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
February 2007
CAMPAIGNERS in Leeds want to make communication
easier for more than 100,000 people in the city who are hard of hearing.
They say a hearing loop should be available in all shops, eateries,
businesses and public buildings. The Leeds Society for Deaf and Blind
People is campaigning with the Hard of Hearing Forum to make the
induction loop, which is connected to an amplifier, accessible for all.
Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 2007
Sometimes people with hearing loss just don't
appear to be with it. That's not because they're looped - it's because
where they are is not looped, and they can't hear. For the hard of
hearing, "looped" means a place with an induction loop system that
transmits a silent, electromagnetic signal to the telecoil in their
hearing aids. It's a technology widely used in Great Britain and elsewhere
in Europe. Loop technology is now taking hold in America, including here
in Albuquerque. At many local places, hard-of-hearing people can hear
church services or meeting proceedings - or a TV with the volume turned
down low. They can even talk hands-free on their cell phones.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January 2008
Because of the huge variety in age and
construction of various types of houses of worship, the installation of
modern induction-loop technology into those facilities is a continuously
diverse challenge. But before we examine loop systems, it is fundamental
to consider what constitutes hearing loss and the effect that can have on
a person's day-to-day life. Suffering from hearing loss can be a traumatic
and isolating experience because it reduces the ability to understand what
you are hearing, particularly speech. Initially, it becomes difficult to
distinguish the sounds that you want to hear from surrounding background
noise. Then, as hearing loss advances, you lose your ability to hear the
high-frequency sounds that make speech intelligible - and it becomes
muffled, incoherent, and impossible to understand. This can change a
person's life dramatically, and it can become impossible to interact
normally with other people, either socially or in public places.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 2008
It seems simple enough: Give people who wear
hearing aids a WiFi-style boost that allows them to hear their TV sets
without blasting other people out of the room. The technology - an
induction loop system - is in wide use in northern Europe but has barely
made a blip in the United States, where 31 million people have impaired
hearing. Now a Sacramento audiologist is working on changing that. Julia
Tanner, who practices in the Campus Commons area, says her patients love
the system she has pushed for more than a year. "Even with a mild hearing
loss, which is getting more and more common as we age, hearing something
that's across the room clearly is difficult," Tanner said. "As soon as we
start introducing other things into the room - an air conditioner or fan
noise - that's competing with the TV. ... Anything over eight to 10 feet
away, the hearing aid doesn't really pick up." Virgil Petrocchi, who is
92, has had his TV room "looped" for the past eight months. "It's the
greatest thing that's ever happened," said the Sacramento resident. "We're
both (he and Faye, his wife of 68 years) hard of hearing, and it just
works wonderfully."
Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 2008
Korra and Omer Olson hadn't attended homeowners
association meetings at their Spokane Valley retirement community in
several months for a simple reason: Both are hard of hearing and they
couldn't make out what people were saying. That changed about three months
ago when the community center at Good Samaritan Village installed an
"induction loop" system. Basically, wire runs around the room's perimeter,
hidden behind crown molding, and connects to an amplified microphone. The
system emits signals to specially equipped hearing aids, enabling users to
hear clearly what's being said. Korra Olson's hearing aids are equipped
with the tiny wires called telecoils, but her husband's are not, so he
spent $150 on a headset designed to work with the system.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 2008
Dallas Adolphsen will be able to hear the dialogue
of his favorite movies better than ever at Traverse City's State Theatre
-- thanks to the donation of an induction loop system to the landmark
cinema. Adolphsen, who has had a cochlear implant for five years, was on
hand Saturday as fine tuning of the system that provides more distinct,
audible sound in public settings allowed him to clearly hear the voice of
Robin Williams and the sound of hoof beats in a favorite film, "Jumanji".
"I could hear them. The sounds were much more distinct and clearer," said
Adolphsen, of Traverse City, noting that dialogue, music and background
noise were often jumbled when he tried to take in a film at a public
theater. He indicated that the problem has been greatly minimized with the
induction loop. Acquiring the InfoLoop induction loop system for the State
Theatre was spearheaded by Traverse City doctors of audiology Sandra Leahy
and Kathleen Sawhill who, along with Richard McKinley of Contacta Inc of
Zeeland, donated the plan, equipment and installation of the system that
transmits a movie's sound directly to cochlear implants and hearing aids
equipped with a telecoil switch.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September 2008
Picture two worlds, and ask-which one you would
prefer? And, which do you suppose most of America's 31.5 million people
with hearing loss would prefer? World One offers assistive listening that
is hearing aid incompatible. It requires you, and those who are less open
about their hearing loss, to take the initiative when entering public
venues to locate and check out special equipment, to remove your hearing
aids, to wear either ear buds that have been in others' ears or a
conspicuous headset, and then afterwards, to replace the hearing aids and
return the assistive unit. World Two offers assistive listening that is
hearing aid compatible. It requires nothing more than pushing a hearing
aid button, whereupon it becomes an in-the-ear loudspeaker that broadcasts
sound customized for your own ears. World One describes most of the United
States. World Two describes 21st century Britain, Denmark (a world center
for hearing technology), and increasingly Australia.
Full Story
