Hearing Loss Help  

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

Properly-installed loop systems can help hard of hearing people hear and understand speech dramatically better in meetings, churches and other public venues. Here in the United States, audiologist Juliette Sterkens has been working hard to increase the awareness of people with hearing loss to the benefits of loop systems.

She has just released a short “You Tube” video showing the enormous increase in understanding speech you can experience when you use your hearing aids in t-coil mode in a looped church as compared to not using the loop system. To watch/listen to this video, click here.

You can learn much more about loop systems and how they can help you hear better—whether at church or at home watching your TV—by clicking on “Looping Information“.

As a public service to help you find and experience the benefits of loop systems in public venues, the Center for Hearing Loss Help is now maintaining a listing of churches and public buildings by state. To find a looped venue near you, simply click on “Looped Public Buildings by State in the USA“.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man explained,

I have a new Vizio flat screen TV, but it doesn’t have any audio output jacks, nor even an earphone jack. It only has an ‘optical’ output called SPDIF, whatever that is. I don’t have a cable box, satellite box or anything with audio out jacks—just the cable from the wall to my TV. So how do I connect my loop amplifier that uses RCA plugs to my new TV?

The TV manufacturers are changing their familiar analog audio output jacks to digital outs at the behest of the entertainment industry to try to cut down on illegal copying of their music (copyright issues).

In case you are interested, SPDIF is the new Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format (more commonly known as Sony Philips Digital Interface). SPDIF is usually implemented in consumer products as TOSLINK, an output connector from which the digital signal is emitted into an optical fiber cable.

What this means is that we hard of hearing people are up a creek without a paddle when it comes to connecting our loop amplifiers to our new TVs.

You see, at the present time, loop amplifiers such as the Univox DLS-50 do not accept digital inputs, thus you need to have a device that either puts out analog audio (uses RCA jacks), or you will need to get a digital (optical) to analog converter such as the Gefen TV Digital Audio to Analog Adapter (Part No: GTV-DIGAUD-2-AAUD).

The cheapest source I can find on the Internet is NextWarehouse.com. They have it for a delivered price of $57.15 (free shipping and no tax).

You’ll also need to get a digital cable to connect your TV to this gizmo box. Then you plug your loop amplifier RCA cables into the RCA jacks on this adapter and voila—analog sound for your loop amplifier. It’s that easy.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man explained:

I am looking at a loop system for my home to be used with the telecoils in my hearing aids. I want to use it primarily to help me converse when a lot of people are in the house. I am looking at the Univox line and I have a couple of questions.

1. How many microphones (I like the Radio Shack wireless/patch cord option) are the systems limited to?

2. Will it work effectively with a room microphone?

The Univox line of loop amplifiers are great amplifiers. That is why I carry them. I have looped one end of my house using the DLS-50 Univox loop amplifier, and am very pleased with the results.

Now to answer your questions.

1. The Univox DLS-50 has three ports (jacks) on the back, so you could plug in up to 3 microphones at a time—but I’ve never tried using that many microphones in that way.

A better way, if you want to use multiple microphones, would be to get yourself a small mixer and plug all your microphones into the mixer, set the levels so all their outputs are about the same, and plug the output of the mixer into the loop amplifier. That way you are not limited by the number of microphones you have. At the same time, you have also leveled out the differences in volume between the people using the various microphones.

2. The loop amplifier itself will work great—but one room microphone is going to pick up all of the noise and babble in the room, so you are probably not going to be able to effectively hear any given person. With our poor ears, typically we need a microphone right at the speaker’s lips, not a general one in the room picking up all the other sounds. You’d have to experiment to see if a room microphone would work for you in the situation you describe, but I know it won’t work for my ears. If only one person is talking at a time, and he is quite close to the microphone, and there isn’t any background noise, then a room microphone could work quite well—but this is not the situation you are envisioning. It would be much better to have multiple microphones—one clipped to each person’s collar.

You can learn the specifics of the various Univox loop amplifiers here.

 by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

The wonderful Univox 2A loop amplifier (that I’ve been using for the past number of years) has just retired. Replacing it is the brand new Univox DLS-50. The DLS (Domestic Listening System) line of loop amplifiers are primarily used for home loops, as opposed to the Univox PLS (Professional Listening System) line that are used in larger venues such as churches and auditoriums.

The Univox DLS-50 is the same robust workhorse as its predecessor, and is still the same petite size. Instead of one line input and one switchable line/mic input, the DLS-50 now has two jacks that automatically switch between line or microphone inputs, and has a dedicated microphone input with its own microphone gain control.

With this arrangement, you can listen to three different devices at the same time such as the TV, telephone and a person wearing a lapel microphone. (Why you’d do that is beyond me. I have enough trouble listening to one sound source at at time!)

However, if you had a couple of hard of hearing friends over and you all had lapel microphones plugged into the Univox, you could all hear each other via your t-coils and the loop system.

More good news is that they have NOT raised the price. It is still a great buy at $179.00.

To learn more about the wonders of loop systems read the article “Loop Systems—The Best-Kept Secret in Town“.

You can see pictures and specifications of the new Univox DLS-50 here.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

In response to last month’s article “Room Loops—Hearing the TV and People Talking at the Same Time“, a man wrote:

I am a huge fan of my Univox room loop amplifier and thought I’d contribute my experience because what you said about listening to another person while watching TV.

I agree it is futile to try to hear what someone is saying while the Univox is blasting the TV audio through your t-coil, even with the your hearing aid set in the combined t-coil + mic setting, which mine is.

The perfect solution for me is a DVR (digital video recorder), like Tivo or one that comes with most cable or direct TV subscriptions. This way, when my wife wants to talk to me she just hits “pause” on the live TV. Since my hearing aids have both the t-coil and microphone on at the same time, my hearing aids’ microphones pick up what she is saying, and then when she’s finished talking, she hits “play” and the loop kicks right back in. It works great!

Unfortunately my wife still attempts to talk to me without pressing pause sometimes, but after I yell “What” enough times she realizes she needs to pause it. It’s not perfect, but it sure is better than switching the aid out of t coil mode and muting the TV every time.

To learn more about the beautiful, clear sounds produced by room loops read “Loop Systems—The Best-Kept Secret in Town“. See the wonderful Univox loop system (mentioned above) here.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man wrote:

With a room loop system, will I be able to understand people in the same room at the same time if I’m listening to the TV through my hearing aids telecoils?

The short answer is, “That depends”

There are two ways you can accomplish this if you so desire. One way is to have one of the memories in your hearing aids programmed to have both the microphone and t-coil on at the same time. When you want to hear both the TV and people talking in the room, simply switch to that memory.

Another way to accomplish the same thing, but leaving your hearing aids programmed to t-coil mode only is to plug in an external microphone to the microphone jack on the back of the Univox loop amplifier. Now you will hear the TV (via its audio outs and patch cord to the Univox loop amplifier the same as before, and you will hear anything that comes through that external microphone (people’s voices) as well. For best results, place the microphone close to the people talking so the TV’s sound track does not drown them out.

Personally, I’d never do either. I have so much trouble hearing that I want only one source of sound at a time. Trying to hear a person talking over the TV programming is just an exercise in futility (and vice versa). I wouldn’t be able to understand much either way.

My preference is to use the t-coil setting and listen exclusively to the TV. When people talk, I’d switch to the hearing aid’s microphones, and mute the TV so it wouldn’t interfere with my hearing their voices. (Of course, I’d also have the closed captions on—so everyone could still read what the TV is saying.)

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man wrote:

Thank you for both your wonderful website (http://www.hearinglosshelp.com ) for the Univox 2A loop system I just installed. I found the system by “googling” for a loop system. Your website is very user friendly and I felt that I could trust the content.

I have a moderate to severe hearing loss. It didn’t become moderate to severe until about 5 years ago. Up until then I was able to enjoy television much like normal hearing people, only missing a little bit here and there. As anyone with my level of hearing loss knows, it became a whole different story with moderate to severe loss.

I invested in an expensive new Bose home stereo with the hopes that the good sound quality would enable me to hear my television. I can tell the sound quality is good, but I still cannot make out speech because the speaker is about 12 feet away.

I think I am like a lot of hearing impaired individuals in that I have begun to feel hopeless, like there is simply no way I will hear things like TV “normally” ever again.

I read the reviews of other users of the Univox 2A, but I was still a little apprehensive. Well, I just hooked it up and I am blown away!

Sound is piping through my hearing aid (with the t-coil program on) and I can hear EVERY WORD, even the commercials, which previously were impossible! I simply cannot believe how good it sounds. I am already a lot less resentful of my hearing loss.

This solution works perfectly, allows me to hear and to keep the TV at a comfortable volume for others, it’s totally hassle free, all I do is put my aid on t-coil and it works.

Thank you so much this gift of hearing that I never thought I would have, even in today’s age of technology innovations. It has far exceeded what I had hoped for. This is truly one of the happiest moments I have had in many years. Hallelujah.

It’s always nice to get letters that reinforce just how wonderfully clear the sound is when using the t-coils on your hearing aids coupled with loop systems. I have enjoyed this beautiful, clear sound for some time, as I looped my house quite a while ago.

If you want to learn more about these wonderful loop systems, read the article “Loop Systems—the Best-Kept Secret in Town!“.

The Univox 2A loop amplifier (mentioned above) is truly a great little home loop amplifier—and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg either!

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A lady wrote:

If my dad gets some new hearing aids in the not too distant future, the loop system will work better for him. His hearing aids only have either the T [t-coil] or M [microphone] setting, not the M/T setting. When it is on the T setting, he thinks it is just too much noise and, of course, he doesn’t like the fact that he can’t hear others in the room.

I can understand a person wanting the M/T setting so they can hear both the TV and people talking in the room. Personally, I wouldn’t like this arrangement as I have too much trouble hearing one sound by itself. Hearing two sounds at the same time would be next to impossible for me. However, if that is what your dad wants, here is a way to do that with his current hearing aids (even though they do not have the M/T setting).

What you can do is plug a microphone into the microphone jack on the back of the Univox 2A loop amplifier. (The TV is plugged into the mic/line jack with the switch in the “line” position). This way the microphone picks up room sounds and puts them on top of the TV sounds, exactly as if he were listening with hearing aids that had a M/T position.

Either place the microphone in the center of the room to pick up everybody’s voices, or better yet, get a lapel mic and clip it to the person speaking. That way the voice will be clear and hopefully stand out above the sounds from the TV.

For a room microphone, I’d suggest the MM-200 microphone set on the coffee table near the people talking or in the center of the room.

The lapel mic I’d choose is designed to be used with the Univox 2A loop amplifier. This microphone has an extra long (10 foot) cord so it can reach to several people in a typical living room.

 by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man explained:

I found an interesting effect with my induction loop system. Seems if you turn up an electric guitar, the sound from the induction loop gets picked up by the guitar pickups and broadcast through the guitar amplifier. Ever heard of this before?

Yes, you are not the only one to discover this phenomenon. It can be a problem when you loop the platform of a church or auditorium and then want to use an electric guitar up there. The electric guitar pickups are basically t-coils so they pick up the varying magnetic field from the loop system if they are close enough to it, just like the t-coils on your hearing aids do.

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

Room loops (inductive loops) are wonderful to help hard of hearing people hear their TVs and stereos without blasting everyone else out of the room (or house)! However, few people really understand these loop systems. Here are six questions about such loops a man asked me. I think my answers will help you too.

1. “It says the maximum loop size is 80 feet. Is that square feet or linear feet?”

When you are talking about loops there are two ways to measure the room to be looped—the circumference of the room (the length of wire needed to go around the room), or the area of the room (the number of square feet the amplifier must be capable of effectively covering.

The common house-sized amplifier (the Univox 2A) officially covers about 400 square feet. This would require about 80 feet of wire to go around a room 20 ft by 20 ft. In actual fact, in a number of places including my own home, I’ve connected the Univox 2A to 100 feet of wire with no problems (approximately 625 square feet).

2. “How powerful is the signal put out by this amplifier? For example, I’m running this wire in a basement. Would I be able to hear the signal coming from the loop on the floor above, as long as I stay within the looped area laid out below on the corresponding floor?”

Yes, for sure—unless you have a metal floor. For example, I have my loop strung around the floor joists in my basement—and it works on the main floor just as well as if I had put it on the top side of the floor. You should also be able to hear it on the main floor of your house too. In fact, the loop on the ceiling of the basement should cover the basement, the main floor above it, and the upstairs above that too!

With such a loop system, you would be able to freely move around in that area and still hear beautiful clear sound—just as you would if you were sitting in front of your TV.

3. “Would this amplifier work in conjunction with, say, a stereo amplifier to provide more output and thus a longer length of wire?”

No. You see, the power going into the loop is limited by the power output of the loop amplifier, not by the power coming into the amplifier. The input signal from your TV or stereo just needs to be strong enough to drive the loop amplifier. If you want to cover a larger area, you need a bigger loop amplifier such as the Univox PLS-100, 300 or 700. You can learn more about all these loop amplifiers here.

4. “If using a microphone with the unit, do I need a pre-amp to boost the power of the microphone? What kind of microphones are best suited for this unit?”

No, you don’t need a pre amp. Just plug the microphone into the microphone jack on the back of the Univox amplifier.

The microphone jack is a 1/8″ stereo jack—but I think any 1/8″ mono plug will also work just fine. If you want a lapel mic with a longer cord, the MIC 13C  works just great, and its not very expensive either. You can try any mic and see how it works if you already have a mic.

5. “Is this unit only capable of outputting mono signals, thus requiring me to purchase the stereo to mono adapter?”

The patch cord that comes with the Univox 2A loop amplifier has two RCA plugs on it—one each for the left and right stereo channels—but the other end merges the two into one signal. You see, room loops by definition are mono devices (since both hearing aids pick up the same signal) so you normally merge both channels into one. Thus you hear both channels in each ear all “smooshed” together—what I call “dual mono”.

6. “What exactly is the advantage of a double wire loop?”

A double wire loop is not necessary, but it gives you about 15% more power as I understand it. However, since I use 18 gauge lamp cord (and it has two conductors), it doesn’t do my Scottish heart any good to pay for two conductors and then waste one! That’s why I use the double wire loop.

You can learn more about these wonderful loop systems in my article, “Loop Systems—The Best-Kept Secret in Town!“