Hilary McColl: Why I wrote two booklets on using hearing loops during lockdown

I’ve worn hearing aids for around forty years but not made much use of hearing loops because so many don’t work, or don’t work well enough to make a difference. I thought that my deafness was too severe for me to hear the sound produced by hearing loops, and I gave up bothering with them.

It was only recently I realised that many loops don’t actually work, or at least don’t work well enough to be of any benefit to me. When I finally experienced a properly working loop I was amazed. I wondered why they can’t all be like that?

Conversations with fellow hearing aid users and some local service providers convinced me that lack of information is at least partly to blame. Hearing aid users often receive scant information about T-coils ; even less about hearing loops, or where they can be found, or how they are supposed to work.

Service providers (some of them) know that the law requires them to provide a hearing loop for the benefit of those using their services who also rely on hearing aids, but they are largely unaware of how they work or what they should do to ensure that they are always available and fit for purpose.

Users and providers have no chance to learn from each other, and there appears to be no official body tasked with monitoring and enforcing even the basic legal requirements. It all depends, I’m told, on users demanding the standards they require.

But if we users don’t know, how can we complain? And anyway, we’re reluctant to draw attention to our ‘disability’, aren’t we? I’m now also convinced that the potential is there but that there’s going to be no improvement unless we are prepared to ask for it!

Coronavirus and lockdown gave me the opportunity to do some serious research and some extended writing. Five months on and many online conversations later I have written a two-part booklet that I hope will help to provide some of the missing information for users and providers, and encourage users to speak up.

It’s called “In the Loop”. Part 1 aims to provide information for people who rely on hearing aids and encourage them to let providers know if a hearing loop is not up to scratch. Part 2 is my attempt to provide information for frontline staff who deal with customers, and for managers responsible for the operation of the loop.

Both booklets are photocopiable and carry a Creative Commons licence which means they can be copied freely provided those copying acknowledge the source, and that the booklets are not sold for profit. If you are interested, you can download either or both parts here: https://www.ideasforears.org.uk/hearing-loops. If you make use of them, I’d love to know about it.

Hilary McColl is a member of Communic8te Bury’s pilot ‘loop squad’ and leader of Bury U3A’s Accessibility Study Group.