Hearing Loops and Accessibility

Last month The New York Times ran a short article on the Science page on “A Hearing Aid that Cuts out All the Clutter”. The hearing aid discussed in the article actually could be YOUR hearing aid.  Or it may not be your hearing aid. It depends on whether your hearing aid has a telephone coil, also called a t-coil.

In New York, many venues, such as theatres, subway stations, the ticket windows of Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, as well as exhibits and information kiosks at Ellis Island have installed hoop systems. In Baltimore, the Beth Tfiloh and Chizoh Amuno sanctuaries have loop systems. As described in the Times article, the Kennedy Center in D.C. also is “looped”. If your hearing aid is then set into the t-coil/loop system” program, then you too could benefit from hearing “without all the background cacophony”.

The t-coil is often a standard feature in today’s digital hearing aids, especially those of the behind-the-ear- style. The t-coil is able to access electromagnetic signals such as those emanating from a telephone. In the case of a hearing loop, a thin strand of copper wire is installed around the room radiating electromagnetic signals that can be picked up by the tiny receiver (t-coil) of the hearing aid. When the receiver is turned on, the hearing aid picks up the sounds coming directly from a microphone, not including all the background sounds.

ASK YOUR AUDIOLOGIST-OR COME AND ASK ME!