A hearing impaired person uses hearing aids in order to help them hear various sounds, including voices, with more clarity; however many hard of hearing individuals rely on reading lips or using ASL – American sign language over a hearing aid that does not distinguish between different sounds.
Normal hearing aids capture sound through a tiny microphone and then send an amplified version to an earpiece. These ‘standard’ hearing aids may work well in quieter environments; however in noisy public spaces filled with background racket, most users find they are of little help. Long available in Europe, a simple technology that sidesteps this problem has finally begun its U.S. debut. Always unable to hear public address announcements and other types of similar speeches, the hearing impaired are hoping that this will soon change.
Digital hearing aids will come equipped with a hearing loop, which is technology known as an introduction-loop system. This new technology works by having electromagnetic waves produced by a microphone, telephone receiver or public address system induce an analogous current into the loop. The loop could broadcast signals directly to a person’s hearing aid equipped with an appropriate detector – a tiny copper telecoil wire, which picks up the signal and then sends it for amplification and transmission through the earpiece.
Hearing loops could also broadcast to cochlear implants which are surgically implanted devices that directly stimulate the auditory nerves within the ear.
Telecoils works somewhat like Wi-Fi for hearing aids, allowing them to serve as customize wireless speakers. Hearing aid manufacturers are increasingly equipping their devices with telecoils, whose original purpose is to boost telephone clarity and sounds.
Although 36 million Americans suffer from varying degrees of hearing loss, the loop technology has not been widely embraced in the U.S. mainly because the loop technology is not a requirement for public venue. Since 2004, the Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA has required public venues to offer assisted-listening systems, but rather than install hearing loops, many public forums offer FM or infrared systems that require an individual to borrow the equipment.