International conference advances the cause of induction loop systems (2009)

A first Hearing Loops International Conference, hosted by the European Federation of Hard of Hearing People, attracted nearly 100 attendees from 15 nations to Winterthur, Switzerland in late September. The conference's stated aim was explore “the latest technology of audio frequency induction loop systems (AFILS), including future developments.” In the Nordic countries, one Swedish hearing loop industry representative reported, assistive listening is provided almost entirely via hearing loops. Volker Kühnel, PhD, a representative of Phonak, reported that in that region hearing aids all come with a default t-coil setting. Conny Andersson, CEO of Bo Edin, a Swedish loop manufacturer, said that his company annually sells 10,000 small TV room loop amplifiers in Sweden alone, which has a population of only 9.8 million. Hearing loops are also spreading in the UK, and can be found in most churches and cathedrals with PA systems, at tens of thousands of ticket windows and other service points (including 11,500 post offices), and in the back seat of every London taxi. Richard Brooks of Ampetronic, a British loop manufacturer, demonstrated strategies for maintaining an even field strength in modern buildings with embedded metal and for containing sound with minimal spillover. As a demonstration, the conference auditorium was fitted, in addition to the room's own hearing loop (which played music during interludes), with a second loop that broadcast the conference in English to those seated on the left, and, through a third loop, in German translation to those seated on the right.Figure: Brenda Battat, executive director of HLAA, left, and Siegfried Karg, organizer of the Hearing Loops International Conference and vicepresident of EFHOH, listen to Janice Schacter, chair of the Hearing Access Program.Brenda Battat, executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of America, described the successful efforts of HLAA and other organizations to persuade the Federal Communication Commission to require the availability of volume-controlled, hearing aid-compatible digital cell phones. Battat attributed the success of this initiative to a collaboration that engaged both industry and consumer representatives. “One of my long-term goals,” she told the conferees, is seeing research bring us to the point “where hearing aids do the job and we don't need other assistive devices.” RESOLUTION ADOPTED Adopted nearly unanimously by conference attendees, who were mostly people with hearing loss and representatives of hearing organizations and industries, passed by a nearly unanimous vote a concluding resolution. It recommended that: Manufacturers of hearing aids and cochlear implants, physicians, audiologists, and hearing instrument specialists shall communicate the benefits of hearing aid/cochlear implant telecoil receivers for phone listening and assistive listening and educate people who are hard of hearing accordingly; and venues and service points where sound is broadcast shall offer assistive listening, such as induction loop systems designed to the IEC 60118-4:2006 standard, that broadcast sound directly to hearing aids and cochlear implants, enabling them to serve as customized, wireless loudspeakers (without the need for extra equipment). The full text of the resolution and of a supporting discussion paper is available at the conference web site, www.hearingloops.org.