There is no denying that wearing hearing aids when you have a hearing loss will greatly improve your experiences. However, there are things you can do to even improve on the improved experience!
One of these things is to have a telecoil in your hearing aid so you can connect to hearing loops in public venues. Hearing loops can connect to hearing aids users in an audience of either 1 or 1000 people. A hearing loop is a thin copper wire which is discreetly placed to encircle a room and is connected through an amplifier to the PA system which is in the room. The amplifier feeds the sound from the PA to the loop wire which in turn transmits it as a silent electromagnetic signal which is received by hearing loop enabled hearing aids. Hearing aids that are able to receive these sounds have receivers in called telecoils. They are available as an option on most hearing aids. Places that have hearing loops may call them T-loops, hearing loops or assisted listening.
Direct Streaming
The main benefit of connecting to a hearing loop in a public venue is that the sound is streamed directly into your ears by the hearing aids. This drastically reduces any background noise meaning you can hear what is being said over the PA a lot more clearly. Hearing loops are becoming more and more popular in theatres, cinemas and places of worships. Some banks and post offices even have the facility now too.
Google Maps Information
In the past 6 months or so, Google have started adding information to Google Maps as to whether a venue has assisted listening facilities. If you search for a place on Google Maps and select the “About” tab, it will show you under the Accessibility heading (shown in the screenshots above). We believe that Google do not have an extensive list of all hearing loops currently and will continue to work on updating their information. Therefore, we do recommend checking ahead directly with the venue if you wish to know for definite if they have a hearing loop.
Connecting to a hearing loop
As long as you have a telecoil in your hearing aid, there will be a simple way of connecting to the hearing loop. Your hearing healthcare professional will show you how to use the function at your hearing aid fitting appointment. You will also be left with a user manual which will contain instructions on how to use all of your hearing aid functions.
If you are interested in discussing hearing aids with a telecoil, we would be more than happy to answer any of you questions. All you need to do is drop us a message.
