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Hard of hearing people often struggle to catch television's
fast-paced dialogue. Captioning is a great help, especially
for prerecorded entertainment programs (on which captioning
is usually simultaneous and accurate). Still, hearing is preferred
to reading captions--and both are better than captions alone.
Most people with hearing loss have a simple way to cope with
the challenges of TV listening: they turn up the volume. This,
however, has two problems: 1) the sound they find most comfortable
tends to be irritatingly loud to their spouses and family
members, and 2) louder sound needn't, after traveling the
distance from the TV to one's ears after reverberating around
the room, be clear sound.
Infrared, FM, and induction loop systems all enable people
with hearing loss to hear clearer TV sound--and, to their
family members' relief, with their own individually adjusted
volume. (One such product has been called "the marriage
saver.")
By broadcasting through one's own customized hearing aids,
loop systems work especially well. Moreover, one needn't fuss
with wearing a receiver contraption or stocking fresh batters.
Better yet, if desired one can also hear room sound, including
conversation and a ringing phone or doorbell. This is accomplished
either by using MT (mike + telecoil) settings on one's hearing
aids, or by patching an accompanying microphone into the loop
amplifier. (Some TV room loop systems come with a microphone
that broadcasts room sounds along with TV sound.)
This is one loop installation that can often be done without
a professional. Just plug the amplifier into a power source,
connect it to the TV audio output, and run its wire around
the edge of the room and over the doorways or under the carpet
(see here
for instructions)--or drop the wires to the basement below
and use a staple gun to encircle the TV room from the basement
ceiling. The amplifier will have a volume control. Some home
loop systems also package the loop in a thin pad that slips
under the cushion of one's favorite chair. No fuss! Just run
the connecting wire around to the amplifier, into which one
can patch TV or a microphone.
California audiologist Bill
Diles now offers home loop installations to all his
hearing instrument patients--some 1100 installations by early
2007. The
results: The patients reported not only greatly increased
TV satisfaction, but also greatly increased satisfaction with
their hearing aids.
By also patching telephone output into a home TV loop system,
people can enjoy dramatically increased comprehension--with
personalized sound broadcast to both ears--while talking naturally
on the phone, without any clumsy wires or headsets. This works
beautifully. Radio Shack offers a connector
for recording conversations that can, instead, be patched
into a home or office loop amplifier. Happily, it has an on/off
switch, so one needn't eavesdrop on others' conversations
while watching TV. (Either one splits your phone signal, with
one line going to the phone or handset, the other to the loop
amplifier.)
Home loop manufacturers include (alphabetically):
~"Remarkable...phenomenal!"
~D. G., Holland, MI
~"I spent many minutes crying my eyes out for what
I was 'hearing', and have never enjoyed a movie so much!"
~D. P., Frederick, MD
(Unsolicited responses to newly installed home loop systems.)
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