We often see professionals in our office who report difficulty hearing in business meetings held in conference rooms with colleagues seated around large or long tables. While they may catch the speech of those seated next to them, the voices of those seated at the far end of the table may be unclear from that distance. The professional may not wish to draw attention or appear uniformed by frequently asking the speaker to repeat what was just said. Use of today’s fully automatic digital hearing aids can resolve this difficulty by providing amplification precisely tailored to the individual’s configuration and degree of hearing loss, making each person’s voice in that conference room audible and clearly understood. Current digital technology can be crafted in cosmetically small custom-molded instruments that tuck discretely into the ear canal or can be housed in a tiny curved case that rests just behind the upper curvature of the outer ear.
Many devices available
For some greater degrees of hearing loss, use of personal hearing aids alone may not be sufficient to make each voice around the conference table clearly audible. State of the art technology in the form of a Bluetooth Streamer, a Loop system, or a Personal FM system could then be employed to provide the needed clarity of each person’s voice.
Bluetooth
A Bluetooth streamer is an optional device available from several hearing instruments manufacturers that is worn under clothing or in a pocket that wirelessly sends the sound from a Bluetooth-capable device such as a computer (PowerPoint presentation) to the streamer and then to the hearing aids, perfectly tuned to the individual’s hearing loss so that every word is heard clearly.
Loop Systems
A Loop system is a wire installed around the circumference of a room that is connected to a sound source such as a TV, sound system, or microphone. The sound routed into the Loop is converted into an electromagnetic field that the hearing aid can detect via it’s TeleCoil, which is an induction coil housed within the hearing aid. The signal is amplified precisely to the individual’s hearing loss and heard as though that sound source was right in the ear itself! Loop systems have been installed in many public performance facilities, lecture halls in educational settings, local churches, movie theaters and can be installed in homes, cars, offices, and even around a single chair in a living room. A hearing aid wearer just needs a TeleCoil in their aid to interface wirelessly with any loop system.
Personal FM systems
A Personal FM system consists of a receiver that is typically attached to the individual’s hearing aid, and a transmitter in the form of a hand-held or neck-worn microphone. Alternatively, the microphone can sit on a conference table. A voice routed into the microphone is sent wirelessly to the hearing aid wearer’s receiver, tuned to their individual hearing loss, and heard perfectly clearly.
These optional assistive listening devices are available at Kaczmarski Hearing Services and we have other applications as well, such as interfacing wirelessly with cell phones, iPods, or home theater systems, enabling hearing impaired individuals to clearly hear and enjoy the sound produced by the latest electronic devices available in our high-tech market.
Kaczmarski Hearing Services has many of these items available on display and available for demonstration. Call us and let us match a device to your specific needs. We promise to work hard for you.
