An interesting article came my way today about a New York composer who had tragically lost most of his hearing overnight. Since then, he had been unable to enjoy the Broadway performances he loved to watch and listen to, but it was the installation of a hearing loop in a theatre that made all the difference because he could once again enjoy musicals even with his hearing aids on.
The thing that struck me the most about the article was that until recently, apparently hearing loops just didn’t exist in America. For the uninitiated, hearing loops transmit a signal, like the soundtrack in a cinema, that can be detected by hearing aids, cutting out distracting background noise.
Now, the idea of hearing loops is catching on in America with loop installations finally underway in top Broadway theatres. People are clearly impressed with the quality of the sound from the ‘not so new’ and low cost technology.
Loops have existed in UK public places for years and their use increased with the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act in 1995. Despite this, there are plenty of examples of loops not actually being switched on by untrained and clueless shop assistants.
So how did America go for so long without catching on? It’s apparently down to some key manufacturers finally embracing the technology causing demand for hearing aids with the ‘T’ setting to soar, and with it, the need for hearing loops.
Like most things that Americans get involved in, they end up doing it bigger and better. According to the article, they plan to loop entire train station concourses (how good is that?) and new Nissan taxis will have loops installed too.
Oh and if you do click on the link, you might notice that the ABC News website videos have subtitles too. Something which is a bit too tricky to achieve for the BBC. Uncle Sam got there first on that one!
By Andy Palmer, Deputy Editor
Andy volunteers for the Peterborough and District Deaf Children’s Society on their website, deaf football coaching and other events as well as working for a hearing loss charity. Contact him on twitter @LC_AndyP (all views expressed are his own).
The Limping Chicken’s supporters provide: sign language interpreting and communications support (Deaf Umbrella), captioning and speech-to-text services (121 Captions), online BSL learning and teaching materials (Signworld), theatre captioning (STAGETEXT), Remote Captioning (Bee Communications), visual theatre with BSL (Krazy Kat) , healthcare support for Deaf people (SignHealth), theatre from a Deaf perspective (Deafinitely Theatre ), specialist lipspeaking support (Lipspeaker UK), Deaf television programmes online (SDHH), language and learning (Sign Solutions), BSL interpreting and communication services (Lexicon Signstream), sign language and Red Dot online video interpreting (Action Deafness Communications) education for Deaf children (Hamilton Lodge School in Brighton), and legal advice for Deaf people (RAD Deaf Law Centre).
Andy. Not him, me.
October 10, 2013
I’m surprised that the Americans haven’t caught on to loops long before this. I somehow assumed that they had loops, same as us.Now that they are into the technology we can look forward to some hugely gadgety loop systems coming along. With a bit of luck we will all benefit.
The main problem I have with loops, assuming they work at all, is poor sound quality. Our American friend obviously hasn’t come across one of those yet!
Because of my limited hearing I can’t listen to anything that sounds harsh or crackly or distorted. It drives me nuts very quickly and I’d rather switch off. There are plenty of other deaf people who hear like that and I think we can help the Americans by describing our experiences to them. Sound quality matters.
Basically if the loop is not installed properly it will sound terrible and nobody will use it. We still have problems with that in this country and so the US would be well advised to pay attention to that point. It’s not enough to have a working loop, >the sound needs to be good quality as well.< This should be taken into account at the planning stage.
Aïda Regel Poulsen
October 10, 2013
very good news this is – not just to the Americans but to us all.
A loop is the facility that works for all very unlike FM-systems, that are usually very personal and with a messing about finding the right frequencies.
We have had loops for years in the Scandinavian countries too. (I’mDanish).
And yes, it does take that the loop is set up properly and that the telecoils in the HA/CI are in the right position and of a good quality too.
And since you mention the composer and his work with music it is also proven that Loops have better dynamic area than do FM-systems.
In a cinema near my house they did some years back have both loop and FM-system.
Together with a hearing engineer we tried it out and the comfortability of the sound quality was easily spotted in the loop.
Thanks for bringing this up.
It really is very important that we as the users of all this technology state what works for us and what does not work for us.
Aïda.
Cheryl Davis
October 10, 2013
Lots of cities are working on it! See http://www.hearingloops.org. David Myers really started it in Michigan and it spread. His story is at http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2013/06/06/hearing-aids-can-serve-a-second-purposeas-wireless-speakers/ …and his inspiration came from a trip to the UK (Scotland)!
Juliette Sterkens, AuD @LoopWisconsin
June 15, 2015
Funny how Dave Myers from http://www.hearingloop.org initially reminded providers and consumers in the US that these hearing loops are ubiquitous in the UK. Now the tables have turned. Now the hearing loop manufacturers in the UK/Europe are looking at how the loops in the US are being installed at the request (and insistence) of consumers. By the way you have a Dave of your own: Dave King from Hearing Link is working hard to blow new life in the “Let’s Loop the UK” campaign to make consumers, shopkeepers and hearing care providers aware of the benefits: http://www.audiologyonline.com/releases/get-in-loop-support-hearing-12811
A new app in the Apple app store under the name LoopFinder https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/loopfinder/id992016120?mt=8 will help consumers find, rate and recommend them.
These new loops are not the old hearing loops from 30 years ago – if the loops are installed according to the IEC 60118-4 standard and coupled to properly programmed hearing aids (that, by the way, consumers pay a lot of money for) work beautifully and seamlessly at the touch of a button.
That loops are beneficial to consumers is obvious when you read the study in the Hearing Review that Sergei Kochkin et al wrote: http://www.hearingreview.com/article/consumer-perceptions-impact-inductively-looped-venues-utility-hearing-devices/ – in this study 866 users report an average hearing experience “out of the loop” of 4.9 (on a scale of 1 to 10 – where 1 means I hear nothing and 10 means I hear every word) – to an 8.7 in the loop – that is a HUGE improvement and that is the reason loops are worth fighting for.