Looping enables better hearing in public places BY SUE WEBBER • CONTRIBUTING WRITER Technology that turns hearing aids into wireless receivers has fueled a local campaign for a “looping” system that will enable people with a hearing loss to hear more clearly. Looping refers to hearing loops or audio induction loops. Many hearing aids contain a component called a t-coil that is designed to help hearing aid users hear better on the telephone. When public places like auditoriums, churches and conference rooms install a loop system, a copper wire encircles the room in the ceiling or floor and is connected to the microphone at the podium. The speaker’s voice becomes a magnetic signal flowing through the room inside the wire perimeter. According to Kim Fishman, owner and audiologist at Chears Audiology in St. Louis Park, most hearing aids are equipped with a t-coil, a tiny coil of wire that picks up magnetic signals. When a hearing aid user presses the t-coil button on his or her hearing aid, the sound comes through without reverberation or background noise. “It’s fun and exciting helping people hear better,” said Fishman, who added, “I have a hearing loss myself.” Earlier this year, a loop was installed in the St. Louis Park City Hall council chambers, with help from grants from the Minnesota chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America and Loop Minnesota. Councilmember Jake Spano, who has impaired hearing in one ear, noted that hearing loss manifests itself in many forms. “I think most folks think of it as something that happens when you are old, or you are born deaf, or to those who abuse their hearing by not using proper protections,” he said. “My hearing loss came from a series of severe ear infections I suffered from as a child and the infection, and perhaps the treatment, led to the destruction of nerves in my ear.” Spano said the addition of looping technology in the St. Louis Park City Council Chambers has made a dramatic improvement in his hearing experience. He compared it to the difference between watching standard definition television images versus high-definition images. “Without looping, your hearing aid is competing with background noise and hiss and if you are turned away from the speakers, you may not get a clear sound transmitted to your ear,” Spano said. “With looping,
all the background noise is gone and the sounds being transmitted are crystal clear and amplified. Essentially, you have a high-definition wireless loudspeaker in your ear.” The city of St. Louis Park became aware of looping during a Business Council meeting in January, and Brian Hoffman, the city’s director of inspections, did some research and discovered how popular the system is in Europe. In the past, Hoffman said, residents attending city council meetings occasionally asked if as-
sisted listening devices were available. “But the devices are big, bulky and very obvious, and people really didn’t want to ask for them,” Hoffman said. Loop Minnesota and the Hearing Loss Association each pledged $1,000 to install looping in the council chambers, and the city took $3,000 out of its budget to get the system installed in May, Hoffman said. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires auditoriums and other public spaces with 50 seats or more to provide assistive hearing devices, Fishman said. According to the ADA, 55.8 percent of people have a hearing loss. Many public places supply FM headphone listening sets for hearing-impaired attendees. But the drawback to those is that users “label themselves as having a
hearing loss,” Fishman said. “You don’t know if the headphones are dirty, and they may not be charged up,” she said. “People aren’t using them.” But, Fishman said, “There are more wheelchair ramps and braille than there are hearing systems.” By law in the United Kingdom, many places are looped, including theaters, ticket windows and taxicab back seats. “It’s been going awhile in Wisconsin, Europe and all over London,” Fishman said. “New York has its taxis looped; London has the tube (subway) looped.” Fishman and a group of advocates have formed Loop Minnesota, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that meets monthly. Their most immediate goals are to loop city council chambers, plus either the Ridgedale or Southdale libraries. “We want to get into the schools, too,” Fishman said. “We are looking for more advocates. We need people to help us make this movement work.” Loop Minnesota’s next meeting is 11:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 12, in the council chambers at St. Louis Park City Hall, 5005 Minnetonka Blvd. Information: www.loopminnesota.org, or www.mnhearingloops.com Clinic caters to seniors via Internet, social media Cami Swanson, a member of Chanhassen’s Senior Commission, spends time focusing on the needs of senior citizens in that community. In her job as administrator for a group of five physicians who comprise Southdale Internal Medicine in Edina, she also is seeing a growing trend toward senior citizens’ use of the Internet and social media. The doctors have become a direct-pay clinic, which means that they accept no insurance except Medicare. For a $300 annual fee, more than 200 of the clinic’s patients receive their doctor’s cellphone number and work email address to enable more direct, timely contact. “We have a lot of established patients in that senior age group, and they like to have access to their physician,” Swanson said. “A lot of seniors email their doctors their blood pressure numbers. The doctors do phone consults with established patients so they don’t have to come into the office.” HEARING - TO PAGE 5