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When psychology professor David Myers went on vacation to Scotland, he was thrilled to visit 800-year-old Iona Abbey. But once the service began, he was lost. As the sound reverberated around those ancient stone walls, it was indecipherable by the time it got to my ears. Then his wife noticed a hearing assistance sign on the wall with a ‘T' on it. The ‘T' stands for telecoil. Myers was wearing hearing aids which contain the inexpensive little magnetic sensor. He pressed a button on each hearing aid to activate the feature. And what happened was just amazing. Suddenly crystal clear sound was coming from the center of my head as if the person were three feet in front of my face. The abbey had installed a wire - called a hearing loop or induction loop - which transmits sound via a magnetic signal to the telecoil in a hearing aid or cochlear implant. Once it's switched on, the telecoil acts as a personal wireless loudspeaker for the listener. Many new hearing aid models use the technology. These are regular church service sound to a hearing aid wearer. Now here’s the sound again transmitted by a hearing loop. Hearing loops are common throughout Western Europe, especially Britain and Scandinavia, where they provide clearer sound in theaters, churches and at ticket windows. Loops have also been installed at the Brisbane Australia airport, and in Hong Kong's Disneyland. Since he got from Scotland in 1999, Myers has been on a mission to introduce loops across the United States. The area where he lives in Michigan now has hundreds - from senior centers to the Grand Rapids airport. Other states, including Arizona, Wisconsin and Florida, have also installed hearing loops at public spaces in their communities. But hearing assistance systems in this country more commonly use infrared or FM signals to transmit sound. Myers says the problem with that technology is it requires people with hearing loss to do the work. To get up, locate, check out, wear and return special equipment. That equipment is usually either a headset or a neck loop. Janice Schacter says many people with imperfect hearing are reluctant to go through the hassle of putting one on. Schacter in New York city called the hearing program.People with hearing loss actually want dignity. They don't want a big neon sign saying, ‘I have a hearing loss.' Schacter's daughter, now 17, who has severe hearing loss, family outings became a trial. We would go to a Broadway show, and she couldn't hear the sound. Sometimes the sound director would think the music was loud enough and they therefore didn't need to mic the music into the headset. Sometimes the headsets were broken. Schacter's organization has helped get hearing loops installed at New York venues like the Natural History Museum, a branch of the Apple store and most of the information booths in the notoriously noisy subway system. Arielle Schacter says the hearing loop funnels the transit worker's voice right into her ear and blocks out the subway noise behind her. I would have a much more difficult time, I would rely less on hearing and more on lip reading and doing that. And I mean that's not perfect. Her mother is continuing her push to loop New York City - and other places too. Janice Schacter says a charitable foundation in Greece is building an opera house and library in Athens that will have hearing loops. And she's talking to several museums in South Africa about installing loops there.
