University of Iowa Assistive Listening Devices Hearing plays an important role in our ability to communicate with others. For persons that do not hear well, it may become difficult to attend social activities and speak with friends and loved ones. Assistive listening devices can give back this ability to communicate.
Hearing aids are microphones placed in the listener's ear.
They can be tailored to a person's hearing loss. They do not perform well in all situations, and they may amplify more sounds than we want to hear in noisy settings. Luckily, a variety of assistive devices can be used along with, or in place of, a hearing aid. A microphone is one such device that is positioned a few inches from the speaker's mouth and allows the speaker's voice to be heard directly in the listener's ear. Closed captioning is another assistive listening device that is a standard feature on TVs made since 1993.