Hearing Loop

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Why are assistive listening systems needed?

Why are hearing loops the preferred assistive listening system?

What hearing aids can receive loop broadcasts?

What do loop systems cost? Who sells and installs them?

What are common concerns and FAQs?

Churches and cathedrals

Theaters, courts, and
auditoriums

Transient venues: Drive through stations,
ticket windows, etc.

Airports, train stations

Home TV rooms

Future venues: Offices, cars, phone enhancements

People with hearing loss can dream of a future when hearing aids might also serve as wireless loudspeakers, delivering clear, customized sound from inside their ears. They can dream of communities where worship places, auditoriums, business windows, and home TV rooms all broadcast their sound through these in-the-ear loudspeakers. Thanks to the refinement of "induction loop" systems--which magnetically transmit sound to hearing aids and cochlear implants with telecoils (T-coils)--that future can be now!

To experience hearing loop sound demonstrations, click here.

What are common concerns and FAQs about loop systems? Click here.	What hearing aids have telecoils and can receive loop broadcasts? Most hearing aids and all new cochlear implants now come with inexpensive telecoil sensors...more
Why are assistive listening systems needed?...more	What do loop systems cost? And where can we order one?...more
Why are hearing loops the preferred assistive listening system? Unlike other assistive listening systems, loop systems broadcast to hearing aids...more	What are examples of looped venues? See lists of looped facilities in West Michigan. A partial state-by-state list of U.S. hearing loops is here. See initiatives in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, New York City, Rochester (NY), Sarasota, Seattle, Silicon Valley, and Wisconsin.
Might Bluetooth be a more effective assistive listening technology?...more	Is there a hearing loops discussion board? Yes, here.

Endorsements:

"The American Academy of Audiology, on behalf of audiologists, and the Hearing Loss Association of America on behalf of people with hearing loss announce a collaborative public education campaign 'Get in the Hearing Loop.'" ~Press release from Hearing Loss Association of America and American Academy of Audiology, 2010.

Britain's Royal National Institute for Deaf People (now Action for Hearing Loss) has noted that "Induction loops are vital to ensure accessibility for hearing aid wearers," and offers suggestions for installing and checking them.

See American Academy of Audiology information and brochures on hearing loops and telecoils, and a Hearing Loss Association of America telecoil brochure.

For more endorsements of hearing aid compatible assistive listening and user testimonials, see here.

Articles and Media:

Nontechnical information on hearing aid compatible assistive listening has been authored or produced by

The New York Times (2011, front page), Scientific American (2010), the Chicago Tribune (2010 front page), and NPR's Science Friday (2010), and All Things Considered.
Hearingloop.org creator, David Myers, in the Association for Psychological Science Observer (2011), the Advance for Hearing Practice Management (2011), Hearing Review (2010), and Sound and Communications (2010), and in thirty other articles.
Eloquent first-person stories from musician Richard Einhorn, after experiencing a temporary Kennedy Center hearing loop, and from Denise Portis, offering an eloquent first-person story.
California audiologist Bill Diles, who describes how his installation of (now more than 1800) home TV room loops has benefitted his patients and his practice.
In Women magazine, writer Terri Dougherty describes people's responses to audiologist Juliette Sterkens' "Loop Wisconsin" initiative.
American Academy of Audiology president, Dr. Patricia Kricos, on "Looping America," in the Academy's flagship magazine, Audiology Today (2010).