If you missed our November 2024 HOPE hearing loss online support meeting, here are the notes and some helpful links. For more information on our free, online HOPE program, visit our HOPE page.

Tech to Help You Hear Better

• A participant mentioned that she couldn’t use the Whisper system to hear her tour guide on a recent trip. The Whisper system is meant for people with good hearing, not people with hearing loss.
  • Another participant mentioned she clips her own mini mic to the tour guide and uses the telecoil in her hearing aid to hear the guide.
  • Another suggestion: plugging a neckloop into the Whisper system so that it broadcasts to her hearing aid. Neckloops are standard and you can get them lots of places, like from your audiologist, eBay, or even Amazon. One participant suggested an amplified neck loop works better because you have volume control.
  • Traveling with a Roger mic and pointing it toward the person she wants to hear can also help.
  • Make sure you have telecoils in your hearing aids, and that they’re activated and programmed.

• Another participant mentioned that she struggles to hear in background noise even with her Roger microphone.
  • Suggestion: Use AVA another transcription app on your smartphone. You’ll need everyone to be using AVA on their smartphones for this to work. AVA color-codes everyone.
  • LiveTranscribe is another transcription app.
  • Also, an adjustment to your Roger might help. Go into the Roger app on your phone, turn off the microphones on your hearing aids, and the only thing you can hear then is what you’re pointing at with your Roger.

• One participant is working on hearing better at an upcoming wedding. She may ask the officiant to wear her mini mic on his lapel. She may also bring an old Williams FM system that works with her bilateral cochlear implants. Someone suggested a Williams Sound PLA90 countertop hearing loop that you could hold on your lap and you could hear people with multiple microphones. Another participant asked the officiant to use a Roger Pen, and later, the Pen was passed around to people who were speaking. A portable lavelier mic could be taped to another mic, too, so that both mics are passed together.

• A reminder: The Seattle Rep theater has permanent hearing loops! If you don’t have telecoil-equipped hearing aids, you can check out a receiver and headphones at the concierge. They also have some captioned shows–you’ll need to sit where you can see the captions.

Hearing Loss Help in New York City

A participant shared her experiences finding hearing friendly entertainment on a trip to New York City.

She rode in a looped cab, and she used an infrared assistive listening system for three Broadway shows. She had to reserve them ahead of time, but they were easy to find, and the staff were knowledgeable and helpful. However, these IR systems didn’t work as well as she would have liked; she had to put the neckloop over her ears to get a stronger signal. Better sound mixing would have been helpful. The participant rented a handheld caption device, too, which was helpful. She found that people who sat next to her read the caption device because they missed things as well!

The best experience was at the new, remodeled Lincoln Center, which has a hearing loop. HLAA board member Shari Eberts and her husband paid for this installation. The sound here was by far the best.

Several museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, also had hearing loops.

Olympics and Paralympics Caption Complaint Update

A participant updated the group on her complaint about delayed captions–up to 16 seconds!–on the captions for the Olympic and Paralympic broadcasts on NBC. She submitted video examples and heard back from NBC and the FCC, but without much help. There are different rules for live TV vs. scripted/ pre-taped TV. There are also different requirements for broadcast TV vs. streaming (like on Peacock). Broadcast TV actually allows for a “reasonable” delay in captions.

Complaining to the network first, then the FCC, is your best path.