Inclusive Listening: Hearing Loops From Utah Company Improve Theater Experiences
Imagine attending a concert or other performance, and having every sound around you amplified — from the music to the person screaming two rows in front of you. For people who wear hearing aids, that’s precisely how theater or concerts sound. Or they can choose not to use their hearing aids, and miss out. Many people who need hearing aids don’t want to make that choice and end up staying away.
“If you felt like you weren’t taken care of as a person by a business, then why would you go out?” said Maclain Drake, owner of Vibe, which does EDM shows for people with all levels of hearing loss. “Everyone wants to enjoy our everyday things in life, but if you needed certain things to enjoy that and venues weren’t providing that, then why would you want to spend your money and time to go there?”
But Utah-based Listen Technologies is working to change that. The company is the North American distributor of state-of-the-art hearing loop technology from Ampetronic.
Hearing Loops
A hearing loop delivers sound to people with telecoil technology in their hearing aids or cochlear implants, via an electromagnetic field, without additional equipment. Many consider it the most discreet assistive listening solution. It also can deliver sound to a receiver connected to an earpiece or headphones. But not all hearing loops are created equal. And neither are companies that develop the technology.
When Hale Centre Theatre was planning its new state-of-the-art performing arts center in Sandy, it asked the hearing loss community for recommendations for assistive listening. They suggested ListenLOOP from Listen Technologies. Then, as partners in the community and supporters of the arts, Listen Technologies was proud to donate the money for the system.
“After they paid for it and others started to learn more about what the system was, other companies also offered to help out, and did,” said Quinn Dietlein, Hale Centre Theatre’s development director and annual giving manager. “But I want to give credit to Listen Technologies.”
He said even with all the unbelievable stage technology at the new venue, the loop is what impresses people most. “This hits home with people.
“The hearing loop is giving so many of our patrons an experience they have never before had,” he added.
Dietlein and Hale Centre Theatre patrons aren’t the only ones impressed with the loop from Listen Technologies.
“I learned about loops because Listen Technologies offered to loop it for free on my first show,” Drake said. And he’s kept using the ListenTech hearing loop. “I do a lot of loops for live music concerts and have to admit that Listen Technologies has that system down.”
Hearing loops are one of the best technologies available for assistive listening systems, and ListenLOOP from Ampetronic is the top-of-the-line technology.
Legal Requirements
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that public venues offer an assistive listening system unless it can prove that it is an undue burden. The requirement includes places like lecture halls, theaters, courtrooms, stadiums, convention centers — basically any public area where audible communication is essential to the space, or where there is amplified sound. A percentage of the devices have to be compatible with telecoil hearing aids, and the law also requires a certain number of receivers, based on seating capacity. So, essentially, many public spaces are required to have hearing loop systems.
As the distributor of Ampetronic’s ListenLOOP in North America, Utah’s own Listen Technologies is working to make listening and understanding easier for people with hearing loss and helping venues comply with the law.
Source:
https://siliconslopes.com/inclusive-listening-hearing-loops-from-utah-company-improve-theater-experiences-43e954a140f8
Media enquiries to: marketing@ampetronic.com
