August 2001
- Interested in how a Tcoil works? How about what makes a telephone
hearing aid compatible? Ron Vickery's interesting
article
explains these concepts and lots more about telecoils and telephones.
January 2005 - David Myers reports that half of
hearing aids sold in the US now come with telecoils!
February 2005 - Confused about telecoils?
Wondering what they are or what they do? Then check out this primer. It
will answer all your questions!
March 2005 - Here's Dr. Mark Ross on telecoils.
June 2006 - Technology shows promise in
reducing telecoil interference
August 2006 - Telecoils are about more
than telephones
August 2006 - Nanotechnology improves
touchless telecoils
September 2006 -
Getting the Best Telecoil Response
October 2006 - T-Coils:
Beyond the Telephone
January
2007 - Arizona Bill
Requires Education about Telecoils
April 2007 - Arizona Requires
Dispensers to Inform Consumers About Telecoils
November 2007 -
Hearing Aids Alone Won't Do the Trick
January 2008 -
Should Kids' Hearing Aids Have Telecoils?
July 2008 - The Lowly Telecoil
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
June 2006
Because
the sources of interfering magnetic fields are generally located several
feet or more from the hearing aid's telecoil, the field strength of these
"far-field" sources is relatively uniform within the shell of the aid.
Researchers at Global Coils SAGL, a joint venture between Tibbetts
Industries, Inc., of Camden, ME, and R. Audemars SA of Cadempino,
Switzerland, have developed an approach to the mitigation of this
predominant mode of interference with "far-field canceling" (FFC) telecoil
technology.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August
2006
When Sam
Lybarger labeled the small induction coil he used to access the magnetic
leakage from telephones a "telecoil," he could not have foreseen that the
ramifications of that decision would be bedeviling us some 60 years later.
In 1947, his decision made perfect sense and, when used with telephones,
the term "telecoil" still makes perfect sense. But, as can be seen from
the two companion articles relating to telecoils in this issue (by David
Myers and William Diles), these little structures can provide auditory
access to much more than telephones. As these articles demonstrate,
telecoils are being employed to hear auditory signals in a wide variety of
situations. Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August
2006
By
contrast, Destiny contains a piece of nanotechnology called a giant
magnetoresistance (GMR) switch, which uses electron spin rather than
magnetic charge to sense signals and store information. Developed for
Starkey by Eden Prairie-based NVE Corporation, the sensors consist of
layers of magnetic thin films just a few atomic layers thick--about
one-third the size of the mechanical reed switches that hearing aids
typically use. This makes the sensors small and sensitive enough to use in
even the smallest of hearing aids--a completely-in-the-canal (CIC)
device--and allows the Destiny aid to quickly switch modes automatically
as a wearer picks up a phone. And this isn't a help solely over the phone
lines. "We're hearing that for the first time that people don't want to
take their hearing aids out even when they go to bed, because they're not
getting any feedback from the pillow," [Starkey R&D executive Tim] Trine
says.
Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September
2006
Question:
I need to purchase a new hearing aid, and neither my audiologist nor I can
find a hearing aid that has pre-amplified telecoils. I have tried several
hearing aids with conventional telecoils and find it difficult to hear on
the phone, even with an amplified phone. I have read many, many articles
telling consumers to ask for a pre-amplified telecoil, so my audiologist
and I are looking for a hearing aid with this feature, but we have not
been successful in finding one.
Here's the answer!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
October
2006
T-coils
(also called induction pick-up coils, or magnetic induction systems)
have existed within personal hearing aids since the late 1940s (Ross,
2004). T-coils can be thought of as mini-antennas, which receive
magnetic information. T-coils are in the majority of new hearing aids
and their popularity continues to rise. In 2001, only 37% of all
dispensed hearing aids contained T-coils, whereas in 2004, 52% of
dispensed units contained T-coils (Kirkwood, 2005) . . . .
Unfortunately, telephone-centric names ("T-coil,"
"t-coil," "telecoil," etc.) infer the primary
application of this technology is indeed, telephone-based. Although
certainly telephone-based communication was the primary impetus for
Lybarger's development of the T-coil almost 60 years ago, and telephone
use is by far the most popular current application, T-coils in 2006
offer far greater application than their telephone-based names imply
(see Ross, 2006).
Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January 2008
"Wait, just a second..." (moving to another
spot)...OK, can you hear me now?" We all know these TV ads from a national
wireless carrier, and they're funny because the situations are real and we
may find ourselves repeating the same phrase, sometimes laughably. But
it's no laughing matter for a parent or grandparent trying to be heard on
the phone when speaking to a child with hearing loss. Do we think about
telecoils for children in the same way we do for adults? Telecoils have
been around on BTEs since the late 1940s. Since then, telephone access
technology has gotten much more sophisticated with innovations like
programmable telecoils, touchless T-coils and acoustic phone programs?not
to mention the improvement afforded by feedback cancellation technology
when using the phone. According a recent survey, T-coils are now in 54
percent of all new hearing aids and audiologists reportedly include
telecoils in 70 percent of hearing aids. Unfortunately, statistics are not
available on hearing aids fitted to children, but we do know that almost
all BTEs contain a telecoil and BTEs are the instrument of choice for most
children.
Full Story
