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Assistive Listening Devices - TV Ears, Personal Amplifier Systems
Assistive Listening Devices
Helping You Enjoy Recreational Activities
In addition to hearing aids, there are a variety of tools and technologies available to improve audibility for people with different degrees of hearing impairment. Assistive listening devices are a group of instruments designed to help hearing impaired individuals meet their communication needs, specifically with face-to-face and telephone communication, electronic media, and reception of warning sounds. If you are interested in learning more about assistive listening devices, contact the audiology professionals at AuDNet. Together, we can select an instrument that helps you participate in the activities you enjoy.
What Are Assistive Listening Devices?
Assistive listening devices are tools that increase the volume of a desired sound, including radio, television, or a public speaker. They minimize the negative effects of distance, background noise, and reverberation on the clarity of the sound. Assistive listening devices provide exceptional assistance in settings such as lecture halls, theaters, restaurants, or places of worship, where it can be hard to decipher speech due to background noise or because the sound is coming from far away.
Assistive listening devices use a microphone that is placed near the talker or loudspeaker, or plugged directly into the sound source (e.g., television, VCR, audio player). This microphone collects the sound, then wirelessly transmits it to the listener’s ear, hearing aid, or cochlear implant using an FM, infrared, or inductive system. If the assistive listening device is used in conjunction with a hearing aid, the hearing aid must have either a telecoil or a direct audio input installed. The latter allows small FM receivers to be plugged into the bottom of the hearing aid to receive the sound.
Examples of Assistive Listening Devices
TV ears are wireless headphones that allow you to listen to your television without increasing the volume. You have total control over the sound and tone of your listening experience without disturbing your companions. Working with a base set attached to your television, TV ears deliver high-quality sound directly to your ears while reducing other noise in the room. They can be adjusted to different types of listening environments. Depending on the particular brand and model you select, TV ears can support sophisticated features such as voice clarification circuitry, television audio processing, and automatic commercial control.
Personal amplifier systems are used to amplify sounds related to recreational activities, such as hunting, bird-watching, listening to lectures, or watching a performance. They resemble a Bluetooth® cellular phone headset in appearance and improve the ability of a listener to hear a noise coming from a distance. They may also be used by non-hearing-impaired individuals.
FM systems use radio frequencies to wirelessly send sounds from a transmitter to a receiver. The speaker wears a microphone connected to a transmitter; the listener wears an FM receiver unit (which can also be connected directly to a hearing aid with an induction neckloop system or direct audio input cable). The speaker’s signal is broadcast to the FM unit via radio signals. Certain FM systems can transmit sounds more than 200 feet.
Telephone amplifying devices increase the volume of the sound coming from the telephone’s receiver. The features vary by product, and can include built-in or attached amplifiers, lights that flash when the phone rings, extra-loud rings, and T-switches. A T-switch works in conjunction with a T-coil, which is an amplifying coil built into a hearing aid that enhances the sound from a telephone receiver.
Learn More about Assistive Listening Devices
If you would like more information about assistive listening devices and selecting the one that’s right for you, contact an NOWiHEAR Audiologist today.
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