The induction loop is one of the ways of hearing aid for people with hearing impairments who use hearing aids or implants. This device helps you hear better and more in difficult conditions - where there is noise and noise. The induction loop reduces the interference in the perception of sounds by hearing aids and implants, so that a hearing impaired person can understand what he hears. How does a loopset work? Who can use it and in what situations does this solution work best?
The induction loopis a solution that will not replace a hearing aid or an implant, but it can be invaluable in many situations. It allows you to hear better when, for some reason, the perception of sound is disturbed and a person with a hearing impairment may have a problem understanding the information that reaches them.
The ability to use the induction loop allows hearing impaired people to talk freely on a mobile phone, makes it easier to visit a bank, office, store, station, and even a cinema or theater.
As Aleksandra Szorc, a hearing aid user and accessibility coordinator at the Foundation for Culture without Barriers explains: - A visit to an institution where no loop is installed can be very stressful. Due to the noise or conversations of other people, I often do not know what the person I am talking to is saying to me and I have to ask for it to be repeated several times. Users of hearing aids and implants are currently facing one more hearing obstacle, i.e. masks.
They reduce the transmission of the virus, but they also distort sounds and make it even more difficult to understand speech. In places with an induction loop installed, where the staff knows about it and has a properly positioned microphone at the station, communication barriers disappear, which is why it is so important to correctly position the loop and connect it. - he adds.
How does a loopset work?
The neckloop collects and transmits sound directly to the hearing aid. The loop creates a magnetic field that affects the camera and eliminates any background noise or interference.
It is equipped with a special amplifier that receives the signal transmitted to it from the source (which can be, for example, a microphone), and thenprocesses it, strengthens and transmits it using the phenomenon of magnetic induction.
This complicated process allows you to clean the signal from unnecessary noise and eliminates problems with receiving information, resulting e.g. from unfavorable room acoustics.
What are the types of induction loops?
Induction loops are classified according to the way they are used. So there are both specialized personal induction loops that can be paired with a mobile phone (which makes it easier to talk on the phone, e.g. outside or where there is a lot of noise), and loops that are installed in public places.
Among the latter there are both long-range loops (mounted e.g. in lecture halls, theaters or churches), short-range loops (which can be installed in an apartment or in public transport) or window loops, installed at cash desks, offices or, for example, hotel receptions. Such positions are then marked with an icon with the letter T next to the drawing of the ear.
How do I use the induction loop?
The induction loop can be used by any implant or hearing aid user with induction coil mode. However, it is worth knowing that in many cases this mode must be activated beforehand.
As Maciej Kasperkowiak, a hearing care professional cooperating with the Culture Without Barriers Foundation explains: - The vast majority of hearing aids are equipped with an induction coil, but it may be inactive. To run it, go to a specialist who will connect the camera to the computer and assign him the so-called telephone program.
Such a visit usually lasts a few minutes, and thanks to it, a person with a hearing impairment can in the future independently switch the mode in the device, if he or she comes in a place equipped with a loop. The induction coil may not have intra-canal devices (fully hidden in the ear) and the smallest behind-the-ear devices designed for mild hearing losses.
For their users, additional wireless devices have been created that increase the camera's capabilities. Such equipment has a built-in induction coil, it can also be connected to a TV or telephone - he explains.