A Hearing Loop Can Help You Hear at Public Places

When placed at entrances, the sign informs people that the venue is looped. Logo courtesy of  http://www.hearingloop.org/logo.htm

If you have difficulty hearing as well as you’d like in various public venues, you will probably benefit from hearing loops. More and more auditoriums, train stations, sports stadiums, museums, and concert halls offer this easy-to-use technology.

To use a hearing loop, you turn on the t-switch on your hearing aid or cochlear implant to activate the telecoil. If your hearing aid doesn't have a telecoil, you will need a headset plugged into a loop receiver to achieve the same effect.

A hearing loop is a wire that encircles the room and is connected to a sound system. The loop transmits the sound electromagnetically. The electromagnetic signal is then picked up by the telecoil in the hearing aid or cochlear implant.

Using a telecoil and hearing loop together is seamless, cost-effective, unobtrusive, and you usually don't need any additional equipment.

Long Islanders: we have just learned that a hearing loop is now available in the auditorium at Huntington Town Hall. This is the first Town Hall to have a hearing loop installed in Suffolk County, New York. This loop was installed to meet the needs of residents who have experienced difficulty hearing at events that take place in the auditorium.

Check out this website for an up-to-date list of facilities in the metro area that are “looped” – keep your eye out for the logo of an ear with audio waves. Remember, it may be necessary to ask your audiologist or hearing instrument dispenser to activate your telecoil to access help from a hearing loop.

Our Senses Connect Us to Our World

What sounds are you thankful to hear?

As Thanksgiving approaches, gratitude is on my mind. Our senses connect us to our world, and also remind us of past experiences. One sense connects to the next…the sound of sizzling bacon together with its aroma is a mouth-watering sensation. Take a few minutes to imagine your favorite sounds.

I love when my patients who are new to hearing aids are aware of sounds previously unheard. Often the first, in my office, is: I can hear the secretaries in the waiting room! (yes, I can too – that’s a good thing.)

Here are some sounds that come back into the “soundscape” when audibility is enhanced:

• Ice cubes cracking in a drink
• Toaster oven clicking off
• Patter of rain on the window
• Children laughing in pure joy
• Crackling fire
• “thwonk” of a well-placed tennis ball
• Tinkling of teaspoon stirring coffee
• Crunch of crisp apple
• Wind chimes in a light breeze
• A cello solo
• Crunching footsteps on fresh snow
• Baby’s first babbling
• Waves breaking rhythmically on the beach
• Choir singing a joyful song
• Birds chirping in early spring dawn
• Far away train
• Leaves rustling in the wind
• Applause

We are told to stop and smell the roses. True! I am so grateful for all our senses! Take a few minutes today to listen, look, smell, touch and taste. What sounds are you thankful to hear?

Calling All Grandchildren!

Hearing aid technology has made phenomenal advances, and is highly interactive with the soundscape so that the listener has a better chance than ever to hear well and comfortably. And yet, hearing aids are only part of the prescription for better hearing. Good listening strategies and strong, kind family support are as important as ever.

If you are lucky enough to have grandchildren in your family scene, you have a built-in resource to help in the adjustment to hearing aids. I say this on the basis of years of observations of the families I see in my practice.

Children are, by nature, proactive, matter-of-fact, curious, intuitive, and quick to “get it.”

Here are a few tips on how the young ones in your family can facilitate good benefit from amplification:

• Learning to actively listen is essential. Let your little ones read a book or tell a story. When we really want to hear, we put extra effort into listening.
• Kids like to get close. Remind them that it’s easiest to listen when face-to-face.
• Children are endlessly curious. It’s OK to ask questions: Why do you have trouble hearing? What happened to your ears? How do our ears work? Do the hearing aids help? It’s a great opportunity to educate your children, and at the same time clarify the very same questions the adults may also be thinking about.
• Changes in hearing often come with aging, but older people do not need to struggle with hearing impairment. Hearing aids and good listening strategies can make it much easier to listen.
• Motivation is so important to maximize hearing aid benefit. Often children’s voices are especially difficult for hearing impaired people to hear because they are soft and a bit treble. So these young precious voices are just the ones that will benefit from being amplified. This is an opportunity for the hearing aid benefit to shine.
• If you don’t hear the child, don’t pretend you did. Children are straightforward. You can say: My ears didn’t hear you – please tell me again.
• Kids can be your best “hearing ally.” In the words of one of my patients, if she’s observed to be missing things, her grandchild says: Grandma, do you have your ears on? If it’s the grandchild who asks, it is never nagging!

As a grandparent myself, I am so aware that communication with my young grandchildren is a joy beyond words. Harness this energy - it’s beneficial to both grandparents and grandkids.