Hearing aids have improved over the last decade but they still do not give the user normal hearing. Most hearing aid users need to use strategies to hear their best. Some strategies involve the help from others – like asking family and friends to face them, move closer, use Clear Speech or reducing background noise such as from radio or TV. Other strategies involve optimizing hearing aid features such as switching between hearing aid programs, and keeping most of the background noise rearward of the hearing aids (that way the forward facing directional microphones can do their job), or by directing young children to use their “big” girl/boy voices or by asking that the captions be used when watching TV with friends and family.
Most hearing aid users are also told by their provider that their hearing aids have a limited range. But not all are told how limited of a range and that this not dependent on the sound processing capabilities (level of technology) found in the hearing aid but primarily due to the microphone limitation.
How many proud grand/parents have made video recordings of their grand/children in a school play, only to be disappointed with the sound when they play back the video? The reason for this is that the person making the recording is hearing the live program with his own two ears and brain. Anyone with normal hearing automatically compensates for distance, background noise and reverberation and is are able to separate the sounds he wants to hear over those he does not. The microphone on the video recorder cannot do this. It picks up what is loudest (the crying baby 6 rows away) what is closest (the person sitting beside you coughing or rustling the program paper or the shuffling of feet from late comers to the show) but doesn’t know what is wanted (i.e. the child actor) vs. the unwanted (all the other background) noises.
Users of hearing aids struggle with this same microphone issue. They hear the world through microphones and just like the mics on video or smartphone equipment, these mics are limited in their capabilities. Hearing aid experts and experienced hearing aid users agree that the most effective range is only 3-6 feet. This doesn’t mean that hearing aid microphones cannot pick up sound that is over 6 feet away, but they are unable to separate the wanted from the unwanted sounds.
Yet, hearing aid users want and need to hear. Especially in places that are critical to quality of life: Hearing the wedding vows in an old stone church, words spoken during a lecture at a place of employment, while attending a play at a local theater, at a City Council meeting, asking for directions in a New York subway or understanding the announcements at an airport gate.
Hearing aid users deserve to be informed that in order to overcome difficult listening situations in public places, and the telecoil, found in a high percentage of hearing aids, in combination with a hearing loop, is one of the easiest to use work-arounds to the microphone limitation issue. It is estimated that at least 2 out of every 3 hearing aids sold today comes equipped with a built in T-coil or telecoil, or the telecoil is found in a wireless accessory that can be purchased separately. While other works-arounds for individual use, such as wireless BT microphones, and FM and IR devices deserve mention, none offer the easy, directly-hearing-aid-compatible listening solution for hearing in a public venue, that loops offer.
How does the hearing loop work? A hearing loop creates ripples in the local magnetic field that fluctuate with the sound from a source – this source can be a microphone on a podium, the mic used by an airport gate attendant or a TV. The telecoil can pick up these minor magnetic field changes and translate them back into sound inside the hearing aid. Just like a microphone picks up ripples of the sound waves the telecoil picks up these tiny ripples in the magnetic field.
The benefits of a hearing loop were recently described in a survey published in Hearing Review. In it 866 people were asked to rate the performance of their hearing aids or cochlear implants using a 10-point scale. The average response was 4.9 in a non-looped setting and 8.7 in a looped environment.
How can a hearing loop deliver such a dramatic improvement? Simple. By overcoming the limitations of the hearing aid’s microphone. In a loop the microphone used on the stage becomes the microphone to the hearing aid. The listener gets a direct wireless feed from the sound system with little or no background noise. The result is that the user has access to the cleanest and purest sound possible. And the budding child actor on stage? He’ll be heard ‘in the loop’ with greater clarity than the normal hearing audience is able to hear ‘out of the loop.’
Read my next blog: Four Ways Your Audiologist Can Help You Hear in the Hearing Loop
Important focus on the limitations of microphones. However, the following statement doesn’t seem accurate as written: “a telecoil, found in a high percentage of hearing aids, in combination with a hearing loop, is the only work around to the microphone limitation issue.”
The telecoil is an extremely useful mechanism with many advantages, but other workarounds have long been available for the microphone limitation issue. Many hearing aids can.be used with streamers or direct audio input (DAI). Perhaps the statement in question could be rewritten to be more accurate.
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Great suggestion, Dana – thank you for making the time to comment. I made a few changes in the text accordingly. Let me know what you think.
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Hearing Loop, I wear 2 hearing aids and I still miss so much, how can I get more information about the hearing loop. Thank You. Carol Manthorp
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Start by reading some of the information on my http://www.loopwisconsin.com or Dr. David Myers’ http://www.hearingloop.org website. Find out if your hearing aids have a telecoil by asking your audiologist to demonstrate its benefits. There are a couple of fun, short and captioned videos on the web that explain how hearing loops work – like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlnx3ZImTw0 or this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPgvIKKza9s. I created a short video that demonstrates the dramatic effect a loop can have on understanding in a church: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3XoVrUjfaY
To find out more about how to install a hearing loop in your home visit this site: http://hearinglosshelp.com/looping-information-2/
Email me at jsterkens@hearingloss.org with your location information and will try to connect you with a member of an active, local Hearing Loss Association of America hearing loss support chapter. Many of their informative monthly meetings are held in a looped facilities where you can try a hearing loop, find out about captioning, special telephones and other assistive technology that can be used in conjunction with your existing hearing aids. Local chapters can also be found here: http://hearingloss.org/support_resources/find-local-hlaa-chapter. And while you are at http://www.hearingloss.org, why not join this worthwhile organization (for all of $35) and receive the informative bi-monthly Hearing Loss Magazine http://hearingloss.org/content/march-april-2016
Thanks for asking, Carol and giving me a chance to share more information!
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I have found hearing loops to be inadequate – the sound picked up is not always loud enough, nor clear enough. I would prefer places to offer a bluetooth connection for hearing aid users. The bluetooth streamed sound is far more clear and direct.
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Hi Rachel,
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
It’s a common misconception that Bluetooth is available today to replace hearing loop technology in large venues. While you are correct that Bluetooth technology can work pretty slick for use on a mobile phone, a mini-mic or the TV at home, in doing so it requires the user to be a bit tech savvy (something my mom is not) and streaming drains the battery much faster, which means it is not a good solution for those who watch a lot of TV (like my uncle). Loop listening does not change the battery drain. All you do is provide a magnetic signal to the hearing aid (instead of an acoustic /sound) input via the mic) while the sound processing and settings should be the same as they are on the mic setting.
My experience is that if someone has a complaint about hearing in a hearing loop it is due to one or several reasons:
1) Either the telecoil is not adjusted properly (the mic setting doesn’t equal the telecoil gain setting – as I explained in my blog)
2) The severity of the hearing loss: Some users with severe to profound high pitch loss may need their telecoil adjusted to provide more low frequency gain (just know that not all hearing aid MFRs allow for this option). Sometimes a combo Mic+T-coil setting can help as it allows the user to hear the lows via the mic and the speech frequencies via the loop.
3) The user’s telecoil(s) are not vertical (this can be quickly verified by listening in the center vs. the outside perimeter (i.e. right above the wire) of a loop or by tilting one’s head sideways.
4) The hearing loop does not meet the IEC 60118-4 standard. A loop that meets this standard coupled to a telecoil that is properly positioned and programmed, WILL BE THE SAME as having a direct connection to the sound system and results in phenomenal clarity and understanding. Read what users say http://www.loopwisconsin.com/Images_PDF/Own%20_words.pdf.
5) Due to severity of their loss and poor speech processing 3-5% of users do not benefit from a hearing loop. They need CART, captions, lip-reading and/or sign language.
Unfortunately, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (BT-SIG) that had been working on what you would like, has decided not to include the one-to-many technology that would have replaced telecoils at this time. From what I have been told, they will likely introduce some kind of universal chip technology that can be built into all mobile phones, hearing aids and TVs in the next 3-5 years. This will not be the universal large area solution we had been promised, and were all hoping for.
A universal wireless direct hearing aid compatible low cost solution, realistically, looks to be at least 10-15-20 years out. And once introduced these chips will still have to adopted by every hearing aid MFR, every cell phone, every TV MFR, and every venue around the world. Believe me when I say that I am not anti-Bluetooth. I am for a hearing aid compatible, practical, universal and low cost solution that will help my mom and so many others hear today. But in all honesty, I do not expect this invention to be available or to happen in my life time. What you are suggesting has not been invented yet – just like the Jetpack my husband was promised over 50 years ago.
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Excellent commentary . . . and, yes, quality sound in (from a mic on the person) is as important as quality sound out–via a loop system that delivers sound customized by one’s own hearing aids. When there’s both the result is amazing–deliciously clear sound delivered by one’s in-the-ear speakers (and with no fuss or hassle in checking out and wearing conspicuous equipment). Love it.
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I liked that you explained that hearing aids have evolved over the years and have become a lot more beneficial to people that suffer from hearing loss. I would imagine that hearing aids would be a miracle for people who do not have the capability of hearing very well. I would consider using hearing aids if I experienced hearing loss since they do a much better job these days.
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