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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