Question: (N. D’Alessandro – Stoney Creek) I read about the loop systems, but what if I go somewhere where they don’t have a loop system installed, but I need to hear someone speaking from a podium or at a table? Is there anything that can help in a situation like those?
Answer: There are a couple of ways to go about this, one is relatively new, and the other has been around in various forms, for several years.
The FM system has been assisting schoolchildren for a long time; as many as 40 years ago there were systems that attached a small receiver to the bottom of behind the ear hearing aids and those receivers picked up signals sent by matching transmitters via either an external microphone or by connecting it to another sound source by way of ¼” stereo jack. The transmitter itself was somewhat bulky, usually the size of two Blackberry Torches stacked together. They were generally tethered to a particular receiver by selecting a particular bandwidth, which kept separate FM systems from interfering with one another, unless it was specifically requested.
FM systems were generally found to be of great assistance for hearing impaired children attending school. It allowed for the instructor to talk from anywhere in the room and still be heard clearly through the hearing aids. In the language of Hearing Specialists, they reduced the S/N ratio, or Signal to Noise ratio by artificially limiting the distance between the source of the sound and the person hearing it. An everyday example of this would be anytime a person, whether or not they are hearing impaired, talks to someone who is several rooms away and doing something that involves sound, like, for example, watching television. We’ve all experienced this at some time, there you are watching television and your significant other wants to have an in depth conversation about the government from the kitchen, 3 rooms away, while she’s frying bacon. Now for most normal hearing people this would be a tough situation; but for someone who is hearing impaired, it is significantly harder. The competing noise alone is enough to prevent hearing the conversation clearly, on either end, but the distance also plays a big part. While different frequencies diminish at different rates over distance, essentially the ones that make words clear tend to diminish faster, (those would be the higher frequencies, lower frequencies travel farther and tend to mask out the higher frequencies as well). In fact for a person who wears hearing aids, if there is enough ambient noise, there is almost no way to effectively cut out noise completely. Most modern hearing aids can control lower frequencies to a certain degree, but can’t eliminate it.
The almost is the answer provided by the FM system; they literally use a wireless signal, (FM, the same as most modern radios), to keep intervening noise from competing with the desired signal, or, the person who is speaking. The distance becomes irrelevant, therefore wherever a person is speaking from, the desired signal is the same.
FM systems have become more prevalent recently for more home usage and office usage, however there are several limitations: The first is that there has to be a matched pair of receiver and transmitter. This is not difficult, it’s the way they’re sold, however, to make full use in places that are equipped with FM systems, the frequencies have to match up, and that doesn’t happen very often. So you may find a theatre that is equipped, but you only have a small chance of having the same frequency set onto your receiver. This is necessary so you don’t hear every conversation from every FM system in the surrounding area, (FM systems can transmit over 100 feet, in some cases). Second, they are not cheap; the average low end FM system retails for about $3000.00 Canadian.
So what’s the alternative, if there is no loop system? Many hearing aids now are coming equipped with Bluetooth capability which is connected to a transmitter via the hearing aid remote control. Several of the major manufacturers have such systems, they have various names, but are generally referred to as some version of a TV listener; Phonak, for example has the TVLink while Unitron has the UTV. Most companies have some version of this but only 3 have Remote Microphones that are compatible with the whole system. Phonak has the RemoteMic, (go figure), Unitron has the uMic and Siemens has the VoiceLink. All do the same basic thing and all are equally effective, and may even be backward compatible to the hearing aids/remote controls you already have. Essentially, the work the same as an FM system, except you already own the receiver and the microphone/transmitter itself is about one tenth the cost. Assuming, however that your hearing aids are over 4 or 5 years old, and that it will soon be time to replace them, I would give some serious consideration to the Remote Microphone system. They are not practical for every situation, even the kitchen to family room one, but for anyone who regularly attends meetings around boardroom tables, goes to lectures, attends churches or synagogues or mosques and are frustrated by not being able to hear the sermon, or if you simply need a little boost in noisy situations, I would ask us about this little gem. It’s as practical as the FM system, but significantly smaller, significantly more affordable, and significantly more convenient than the typical FM system.
Give us a call if you need more information of the remote mic system.