Many of our patients complain that they can no longer understand television and need to take their hearing aids out to put on headphones so they don’t disturb others in the house. This is disheartening because they spend a lot of money on their hearing aids and then have to take them out. This also happens in theatres, movies and places of worship.
Now our patients that get new hearing aids have found out that their hearing aids can be equipped with a new twist on old technology, called a T-coil. Audio loop technology and T-coil hearing aids aren’t new, but they have been improved in recent years. The basic system was created in the 1940’s. One of our patients reported the difference, “The special thing about this, is it actually works with my hearing aids and I don’t have to remove the hearing aids.” With the T-coil technology, the speaker talks into a microphone that transmits a signal picked up by a loop of wire. The wire creates a magnetic field that transmits sound to the T-coil in the hearing aid. The advantage is that the T-coil in the hearing aids filters out the background noise and the other sounds so that the speaker’s voice is clear, goes directly into the hearing aid without any distance, making it easier for the hard of hearing person to understand the speech and what is going on.
The costs of these systems are about $265 for small places such as homes to around $895 for public places.People who are NOT hearing impaired don’t realize that simply making sound louder through headphones doesn’t always make it more clear. Many hearing impaired people don’t realize this technology is available.
At Audiology Associates our mission is to help the hearing impaired person to lead better social lives through any technology available. Therefore, any person who purchases a hearing aid through our office will be able to obtain a loop system in their home at no additional charge, as part of our Complete Hearing Health Care Program.
For more information about the Home Loop System or available hearing aid technologies, please contact Nola Aronson, M.A. Patrice Rifkind, Au.D and Ginny Newman, Au.D. at 661-288-1400.