The statement “SubwayAudioLoop (2)” is shown at top of the screen throughout the video.

At the start of the video clip, the screen shows the words “Hearing Loops: A demonstration of how 

hearing loops provide clearer sound”. No audio is provided of this text.

The screen changes and shows text saying “live recording at the subway booth at 66th Street Lincoln 

Center, asking for directions” while the audio reads the text.

The screen changes with a subway booth shown which has a sign displaying the symbol for an assistive 

listening system. The symbol has the letter T in the lower right corner with words under it reading

“induction loop installed switch hearing aid to T-coil.” The sound of a train makes the audio recording of 

the discussion with the booth attendant difficult to understand. At text statement appears on the 

screen, without audio, which reads “Live ambient sound: Difficult to understand.”

The screen changes with text appearing which reads “the exact same encounter as heard over the audio 

loop system installed at the subway booth at 66th Street and Lincoln Center” with audio reading the text.

The screen changes to show the subway booth again and via the hearing loop audio one hears the booth 

attendant’s voice say “take the 1 train to 14th street get off and get the L train to Bedford that’s heading 

toward Brooklyn”. Text on the screen reads “Hearing Loop Audio. “ The sound of a train is heard in the 

background and new text replaces the hearing loop audio text with “The loop signal is much easier to 

understand.” No audio is provided of this text.

The screen changes and text appears, without audio, which reads “Two recordings were made 

simultaneously on August 31, 2011 at the downtown West 66th St. subway station as an express train 

rumbled past. I asked for directions to Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. The live recording picked up 

both my questions and the MTA employee’s responses. Because the loop system is only activated when 

the operator speaks in the microphone, only her directions were recorded. No signal processing or 

overdubbing was used.” 

The screen changes and text appears, without audio, which reads “In order to make the contrast as clear 

as possible, captions were deliberately omitted. If there are captions over the live recording, they make 

it much easier to understand than it actually is to hear. Likewise, if there are captions over the looped 

sound, it becomes so easy to understand that the comparison is unfair.”

The screen changes and text appears, without audio, which reads 

“Recorded by Richard Einhorn

Additional engineering assistance: Missy Cohen

Equipment for the live recording: Iphone 3gs running the FiRe 2 recording app.

Equipment for the looped recording: Univox Listener loop receiver/testing device connected to an Edirol 

R-09 portable digital recorder.

Video by Steve Lewis”
The screen changes and text appears, without audio, which reads” For more information about hearing 

loops, go to Hearingloop.org [and] hearingloss.org. 

The screen changes and text appears, without audio, which reads “Published originally as part of the 

media to the article A hearing Aid That Cuts Out All the Clatter in the New York Times on October 24, 

2011. Special thanks to the employees of the MTA for their courtesy and cooperation.”

End of video clip description.