by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man explained:

I have a high-frequency hearing loss. I use two hearing aids with telecoils. I have heard about a neckloop, but I am unclear if I just need a neckloop, or something additional to make the neckloop work.

Yes, you need something additional. Think of a neckloop as equivalent to a pair of ear buds. You have to plug the ear buds into an audio device in order to hear anything. The same is true with a neckloop. You can plug a neckloop into any device that you can plug ear buds into.

This man continues:

I sometimes have trouble hearing when I use (or try to use) my cell phone if there is even just one person nearby talking. Will a neckloop help me?

When you switch your hearing aids to t-coil mode, you will instantly eliminate all the voices and noise around you. That is one of the advantages of using your t-coils in noisy situations.

However, regular neckloops won’t work in cell phones. They have the wrong size of plug. Special neckloops are available that have the correct plug and the integrated microphone that you need in order for them to work with cell phones.

However, in my experience, neckloops—unless they are amplified—don’t have enough power to effectively work with cell phones. (Incidentally, amplified neckloops cost a lot more and require batteries. If the batteries die on you, so does the conversation.)

Since the above are not problems with the T-links, when using a cell phone, I’d recommend using the T-Links instead of a neckloop. Then you could listen to your cell phone with both ears via your t-coils and not hear the outside interference. You can see the T-links here.