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Arkansas Loops is a division of Saline Audiology. We are strong advocates of hearing loops and sell our hearing aids with a manuel telecoil in them so our patients are able to access hearing loops. If your church, or business would like information on hearing loops, we offer a no cost site survey and estimate. Also, we are available to answer questions and give demonstrations when needed.
Contact us at 501-778-3868 for questions and information.

Hearing loops are commonplace in Europe. In England, everywhere from Westminster Abbey
to public transportation ticket windows are looped.

The U.S. has been slower to embrace hearing loops because, until recently, many hearing
aids were not equipped with telecoils. According to the American Academy of Audiology,
today almost 70% of all hearing aids dispensed in the U.S. have telecoils, and that number is
on the rise. As a result, there is increasing interest in hearing loops.

Proponents such as David G. Myers, PhD, a hearing-impaired professor of psychology at
Hope College in Michigan, the Hearing Loss Association of America, and the American Academy
of Audiology are leading the charge to loop more public spaces in the U.S.
Hearing loops are increasingly being embraced as a way to help hearing impaired people
enjoy clear sound in:

• Theaters and performing arts centers
• Places of worship
• High school and college auditoriums
• Court rooms and government chambers
• Board rooms and large meeting rooms
• Banquet and sports facilities
• Ticket counters and information booths
• Doctors’ offices and pharmacy counters
• Drive thru and pick up windows
• Elevators, trains and buses
• Museum exhibits

In the Southeast, hearing loops are being installed in retirement communities, places of
worship and auditoriums. The public sector has been a bit slower to embrace the technology
than in other parts of the country, but change is coming.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the biggest challenge to hearing loop effectiveness?
A: User education is actually the biggest challenge. Many people have no idea that their hearing aid or cochlear implant has a T-coil. Even if an organization posts the universal hearing loop symbol, people may not fully understand that they can easily take advantage of the technology using their existing assistive hearing device. It helps to provide some information about T-coils on signs, in programs and in public presentations.

Q: Are there any venues that just cannot be looped?
A: Ninety percent of all facilities can be looped effectively. Steel and concrete with rebar can make an installation more complex. It is important to have a professional hearing loop installer conduct an initial site assessment to determine the effectiveness of a hearing loop for a particular venue.

Q: Is non-structural magnetic interference a problem with hearing loops?
A: Generally not. Old computer monitors, old fluorescent lighting, and some old dimmer switches generate interference, as do some cars and all airplanes. But all the successful current installations show that interference-free installation is nearly always possible.

Q: Can hearing loops serve those without telecoil-equipped hearing aids or without hearing aids entirely?
A: Yes, hearing loops typically come with portable receivers and headsets to serve people who don’t have T-coil equipped hearing aids. As T-coils have become commonplace, we find that most receivers and headsets are not used.

Q: Can hearing loops be used in adjacent rooms?
A: Yes, systems can be designed that control sound spillover between adjacent rooms.

Q: Can you see the hearing loop?
A: No, the hearing loop does not affect the venue’s architecture or appearance at all.

Q: Do I need to do anything to maintain a hearing loop?
A: Just check it monthly to make sure that it is working properly. Installations often come with a special listening device to allow a non-hearing aid wearer to access the induction loop.

Q: How do people know that a hearing loop is available?
A: The venue will post this internationally accepted symbol

Why churches notoriously have poor acoustics…

Churches are usually large, with very high ceilings and a large volume of space.  Add to that the fact that most churches are constructed of hard – walled materials such as stone, cement, plaster, marble, and glass.   The ceilings are usually peaked which gives a megaphone effect.  This can create annoyingly loud spots and / or acoustically “dead” spots.

So when a pastor speaks at a large church, the sound bounces off multiple hard surfaces.  The prolongation of the voice caused by multiple reflections is called reverberation.  Reverberation time can be measured:  large churches have a large reverberation time.  This lengthy reverberation time “smears” speech by eliminating the stops or gaps in speech that allows us to recognize the beginnings and endings of words.  This is why it is so difficult to understand the sermon.  To complicate this even more, any noise generated by talking, coughing, by babies crying, and the like adds to the overall noise level to further degrade the speech of the presenter.

In church, the best solution is a hearing loop system.  A hearing loop encircles the congregation’s seating area with a cooper wire.  Hearing aids equipped with a telecoil (which can be activated by pushing your program button) will pick up the sound that is plugged into the loop area, which should be the speaker or musician coming through the microphone.  This provides direct-to-your-ear sound delivery and avoids the noise and reverberation that degrades the speech message.

Arkansas Loops a division of Saline Audiology can do a free site survery and demo for your church.  Contact us if you have questions about a loop system or want to set up a survey.  501-778-3868