Who We Are

HEAR! HERE! is your local chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America [HLAA] serving Woodland, Davis and Yolo County. We offer informational programs throughout the year that are open to all. See this blog for times and dates of upcoming events.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Our e-mail address is: hearherewoodland@gmail.com

Thursday, October 27, 2011

LOOPING-communicating without external equipment!

Julia Tanner, Doctorate in Audiology, spoke at the September Hear! Here! general meeting held in Davis on the subject of "looping". Looping is a system of wiring a room or designated area so that wearers of hearing aids with a T Coil option can switch to that setting and receive a clear audio signal free of outside noise.The system does not require the hearer to wear any external equipment and with 60% of hearing aids having a T Coil looping is a very attractive choice for many.  The system works very well in lecture halls, churches and other large venues while in Europe many personal service areas such as banks, cashier areas and ticket offices offer looping for individual member of the public. Clare Childers, a member of Hear! Here!, first experienced looping at a conference and rated the system highly as she was able to hear the speaker very, very clearly. A rare experience for Clare with other hearing assisted systems.
Dr. Tanner informed the audience that the system is not really designed to facilitate group conversations although some hearing aids allow the wearer to have a microphone in use at the same time.However, because of its ability to improve the quality of sound and of word discrimination looping is especially useful for television viewing allowing the hard of hearing viewer to adjust the sound to a level that works for them while allowing other viewers to have the sound set lower, as well as in the lecture hall.

There was a short test at the meeting of a temporary looping system that was set up around the edge of the audience followed by an opportunity to discuss individual questions with both Dr. Tanner and her regular installer. Installation for a TV system usually runs around $250.00 and the looping is installed in such a manner as not to be noticeable.

Dr. Tanner told the group that she believes so strongly in looping that she offers it to all her private patients and she is working on a long term project to get as many public meeting venues located in the Sacramento Area looped. Currently two churches are looped, Holy Spirit on Land Park Drive, and Fremont Presbyterian on H Street. If you are a member of a church or organization that may benefit from installing a looping system or if you have a venue in Davis that you would like to suggest to Dr. Tanner you may contact her at: hearingsolution@sbcglobal.net. To view more information go to her website at: www.thehearingsolution.com.