Hearing-impaired gain clear access in Nichols Hills
NICHOLS HILLS — The city council chamber inside Nichols Hills’ newly renovated city hall includes innovative technology that’s designed to help people with hearing aids or cochlear implants hear the proceedings more clearly and without background noise.
A hearing loop system — the second in Oklahoma and first in the Oklahoma City metro area — was installed during the 2017 council chamber renovation.
Since going “live” in November, the system has been tested several times at city council and other city board meetings, City Manager Shane Pate said, and feedback has been good.
Pate said there are some behavioral things participants at Nichols Hills meetings inside the council chamber will need to improve on, such as making sure they are speaking directly into the sound system microphones, which are connected to the hearing loop system.
He said the system cost about $7,000 and was added to the already begun city hall renovation project. The system was financed with capital improvements funds the city council budgeted in July as part of the city’s budgeting process.
Ana Covey, certified hearing loop contractor and a spokesperson for Assist2Hear Inc., a company that provides hearing loop systems and oversaw the Nichols Hills installation, said the hearing loop technology is relatively simple and has been available for about 30 years.
The hearing loop, she said, is literally a copper wire ribbon that is “looped” around a room, usually underneath the flooring. When connected to the room’s sound system, it transmits sound that’s picked up by the telecoil in a person’s hearing aid or cochlear implant.
The telecoil, or T-coil, functions as an antenna directly linking the listener to the facility’s sound system, she said.
“It’s as if the microphone is speaking directly into the ... listener’s ear,” she said.
About two-thirds of today’s hearing aids, and all cochlear implants, have built-in T-coils, she said. For a person to use the technology, the T-coil needs to be activated by a person’s audiologist or hearing aid specialist, she said.
Increased clarity
The hearing loop system uses portable receivers and headsets for people who don’t have T-coilequipped hearing aids but want to hear more clearly, Covey said. She urged people of all ages to have their hearing checked.
Covey said hearing loops are one of three types of hearing assistance systems that meet Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines but have advantages over the other two because a headphone is not necessary for people with T-coilequipped hearing aids or cochlear implants.
She said a common misconception is that increasing the sound system volume in a public place, such as an auditorium, church or public meeting area, will enable someone with hearing loss to hear better.
Covey said that with hearing aids, everything is louder, including background noise.
“Volume is not the issue; it is the lack of clarity that is actually the culprit,” she said.
“Clarity is lost due to ambient noise, echo and reverberation. Increasing the volume only further distorts the sounds.”
A hearing loop, she said, removes background noise, echo and reverberation and creates a clear sound directly to the ear through a user’s existing hearing aid, greatly reducing background noise, reverberations and competing sounds that interfere with a person’s ability to hear what’s going on.
“The hearing loop doubles the functionality of their hearing aid,” she said. “It blocks out the background noise, takes away the ‘babble’ and gives them the clear sound they want. For a lot of people, this is lifechanging.”
Other loop systems
Oklahoma’s first hearing loop system was installed in May inside St. Mary Catholic Church in Tulsa.
A third system is being installed inside the Civic Center Music Hall in downtown Oklahoma City, and will be the most ambitious of the three, Covey said.
“We’re looping the entire theater,” she said. Box seating in all levels of the theater will be looped, as well as other public service areas, including ticket counters, the customer service desk and cocktail serving areas.
The hearing loop inside the auditorium was given a “soft opening” in early December during a performance of “The Nutcracker,” and feedback from patrons who attended was extremely encouraging, Covey said.
Matt Anderson, head of audio for the Civic Center Music Hall, said the downtown venue is undergoing an entire sound update, including audio and video systems.
“We thought this would be in the interest of the public,” he said. “The goal is to make sure every patron that comes in has a quality experience with the sound.”
The hearing loop, Anderson said, “is really an amazing technology. So far, it has exceeded our expectations, I can tell you that.”
Covey is also a member of the Central Oklahoma Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America, whose members, she said, support the installation of hearing loop systems in public places as the preferred way to meet ADA guidelines.