The
Hearing Loss Association of America, the largest group representing
people with hearing problems, has joined with the American Academy of
Audiology in a campaign to make loops more common in the United States.
This technology is a cost-efficient way to provide benefits that even the
most expensive hearing aids cannot deliver. A hearing loop, typically
installed on the floor around the periphery
of a room, is a thin strand of copper wire radiating electromagnetic
signals that can be picked up by a tiny receiver already built into most
hearing aids and cochlear implants. When the receiver is turned on, the
hearing aid receives only the sounds coming directly from a microphone,
not the background cacophony. Included in this article is a story about
composer Richard Einhorn and his first encounter with the hearing loop
system.