The Better to Hear by Warren Brown

“I was able to hear everything. I didn’t have to see the speaker’s lips like I did in the past.” For years, Cheryl relied on lip reading to understand the Sunday morning service at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Akron. Despite the church’s public address system, Cheryl, who has severe hearing loss had trouble understanding the words even with the benefit of hearing aids. Then, everything changed. The church installed a new assistive system, a hearing loop that transmits the sound of the service right to Cheryl’s hearing aids. After the service, Cheryl was elated, “I could even understand the words the choir sang. I was never able to do that before!” What makes the sound she now hears so much clearer is that all the background noise is eliminated. The words from the pulpit microphone go directly into Cheryl’s ears.

The key to the system is a simple loop of wire that circles the room. That loop is connected to the sound system and produces a magnetic field which can be picked up by a T-coil (telecoil) within the hearing aid. By simply pressing a button that activates the T-coil the sound from the PA is reproduced into the wearer’s ear. Wireless headsets that work on the same system are available for those without t-coil hearing devices.

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the number of Americans who suffer hearing loss is some 38 million and growing. As many as 30 to 40 percent of those over 65 have some impairment. That’s why more and more UU churches have been installing loop systems.

Recently, the American Academy of Audiology and the Hearing Loss Association of America have started the Get in the Hearing Loop campaign to help promote the installation and use of hearing loops in the United States. They advocate the widespread availability of loops, from airports to theaters, from banks to taxi cabs - just as they are in Europe. Loops can even be installed in people’s homes. A family room can be looped so that a hearing impaired person can hear the television or stereo without turning the volume way up, which even makes it more comfortable for non-hearing impaired family members.

Hearing Loops are not an expensive technology. For churches, depending on the size and construction of the building, one can be installed starting at less than $2000. Congregations can do simple installations themselves. However, it’s a good idea to seek the guidance of a certified supplier.

This year at General Assembly the EqUUal Access booth in the Exhibit Hall will feature a display on hearing loops from Brown Audio Service. For more information about hearing loops in general, visit Hearing Loop.org or contact EqUUal Access.

Looping Your Sanctuary by Carol Agate

Are you planning to build a new sanctuary or remodel an existing one? Now may be the perfect time to install an induction loop around the perimeter. The loop will allow people who wear hearing aids to hear all the voices coming from the microphones right in their ears.
You may wonder why they would need that if the sound is already being amplified. That's because loudspeakers distort sound. Our brains do wonderful things with the sounds our ears pick up and deliver to them. But when those ears lose the ability to hear well, the brain can't do a competent job of interpreting the sounds. The brains of people with normal hearing are capable of interpreting those distorted sounds and understanding what comes through the loudspeakers. But for the brains of people with hearing loss the amplified sounds remain distorted. An induction loop sets up a magnetic field and hearing aids that have telecoils pick up those voices and put the sounds right into the ears, just as though the speaker was one foot away.

You may already have installed an FM transmitter and have receivers that you distribute to congregants and guests. If so, good for you! But do you find your ushers don't know where the receivers are kept, the batteries are dead more often than not, or the ear buds or headset pads are to hard to keep clean or to keep changing? When people with telecoil-equipped hearing aids walk into a looped sanctuary, no equipment is needed. All they have to do is flip a switch on their hearing aids.

Even if you aren't remodeling you may be able to install a loop.

An Induction Hearing Loop Comes to Brooklyn

Last October, an audiologist and member of the First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn, Margaret Weber, read an inspiring article in the October 24, 2011 Science section of the NY Times on the Induction Hearing Loop called:  “A Hearing Aid that Cuts Out all the Clatter.”  She had been doing her own research on the loop and with this great exposure in the Times, Margaret felt that she was ready to discuss the technology with other members to see if they agreed that it might be the right time to bring the Loop to Brooklyn.  Enter members, Kay Corkett, who was serving on the Board of Trustees, and Kathy Ivans a school psychologist. They both became as enthusiastic about the Loop as Margaret and determined to write a proposal to the Board suggesting a special fundraiser to install the loop in the First U Sanctuary.

The major point made by the NY times article was that the Hearing Loop sends sound from a microphone directly into hearing aids equipped with a telecoil (a device originally developed years ago to enhance the sound from a telephone).  With the sound coming directly into the hearing aid, the surrounding noise in the room is eliminated. Without the Loop, hearing aids amplify everything, both what you want to hear and what you don’t want to hear.  So the sounds of creaking floor boards and pews, shuffling of feet and bodies and the reverberation of sound on surfaces interfere with hearing.  That’s also true for those with no hearing loss, but those folks are able to tune the background noise out while hearing aids amplify it.

The Induction Hearing Loop is literally a thin cable that runs invisibly from an amplifier around a room and back to the amplifier making a loop. The technology has been around for 70 years and is in wide use in Europe and parts of the US, and now it is becoming more widely used in other parts of the country in schools, churches, and concert halls.  For example, the New York City MTA has installed the Loop in 400 of the token booths that have clerks and microphones.

So, having met numerous times to discuss their research and proposal strategies, as well as obtaining bids from audio companies, Margaret, Kathy and Kay completed a five page proposal and took it to the Board.  They asked the Board to consider fundraising for the Hearing Loop in the annual end-of-year appeal letter to the congregation. The proposal was accepted.

First Unitarian is a 169 year old land-marked building, so research has shown that it is very difficult and extremely expensive to provide access for those members and visitors with mobility challenges.  But the installation of the Hearing Loop has at least been one step taken toward garnering the support of the congregation to put energy and money behind the goal of providing access for full participation to those members and visitors with hearing loss.