Auracast and hearing loops help clients hear better than they ever have and can change the way you practice, while creating priceless goodwill for the profession.
By Juliëtte Sterkens, AuD
To fully engage with the world and get the most out of hearing devices such as hearing aids and cochlear implants, users need access to assistive listening technology in public venues. Here are some recommendations for how to help your patients and other people with hearing loss access systems such as hearing loops and Auracast broadcast audio in your community.
• Consider setting your patients up for success with “ADA-Access-Ready” hearing aids, devices that include Auracast compatibility and a telecoil. That way they can not only benefit from Auracast, but also from the thousands of hearing loops and assistive listening systems with neckloops that are currently in use. You can find more information here: centerforhearingaccess.org/ada-access-ready
• Install an Auracast and counter hearing loop with a quality directional mic in the waiting room. Routinely offer hands-on demonstrations to clients and family members on connecting to both technologies and always provide information in writing. You can find tips at centerforhearingaccess.org/uploads/empowering-patients-assistive-listening-systems.
• It’s not enough to just tell your patients about Auracast, hearing loops, and FM/RF systems. Demo again at follow-up appointments. Patients need to develop skills.
• Maintain a list of locations using Auracast and other assistive listening systems in your community, including places of worship. For a template you can adapt, you can visit https://centerforhearingaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/Template-List-of-Assistive-Listening-Systems-in-Community.docx.
• Google Maps now lists hearing loops, assistive listening devices (which includes the receivers for FM/RF, IR), and Auracast under “Accessibility” for different locations. Be sure to list your office. Details are available at https://centerforhearingaccess.org/google-maps.
• Give workshops on how to “Get the Most from Your Hearing Aids using Auracast and Telecoils” in your community.
Routinely inform patients about their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act and ADA-access-ready hearing aids. You can find many free educational handouts at centerforhearingaccess.org/audiologists.
• Routinely inform patients about their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act and ADA-access-ready hearing aids. You can find many free educational handouts at centerforhearingaccess.org/audiologists.
• Support an assistive listening system in your personal place of worship. You can help get the word out by coordinating with leadership to put an informational insert in the congregation’s bulletin.
• Write a letter to the local newspaper or senior centers about the new “Hearing Assistance for Hearing Aids” in the community, listing your name and email as a professional willing to help consumers.
• Use the assistive listening system(s) offered when visiting theaters or other venues in your area. Listen carefully. Does it sound good? Are neckloops available for the receivers, be they Auracast, FM/RF, or infrared? As a professional, you want to know what is offered for your clients in your area. Get involved to improve the assistive listening that is offered. Push for venues to include Auracast receivers with neckloops.
If a client is a successful user of a smartphone, wireless TV device, and/or remote mic, explain how assistive technology works in public venues and that it is mandated by ADA law. An Auracast and telecoil demonstration in the office is fun and only takes a couple of minutes. Offer headphones to any accompanying family members—so they can hear it too. Afterward, encourage clients to try a system somewhere in the community using your list of all assistive listening-equipped locations. If there are none, explain why you want to change this.
In 2008, there were no hearing loops in my area; today, there are over a hundred loops in the Fox Valley area and some 1,000 in Wisconsin alone. Many patients took the information I gave them about the technology to places where they wanted to hear better. Similarly, you can do this on behalf of Auracast broadcast audio so there will be venues for your clients to use this new system. Insist receivers with neckloops be included with every Auracast installation to meet the ADA requirements.
After a positive experience with assistive listening systems, be it in a waiting room or place of worship, I used to ask my audiology clients if they’d be willing to do one thing to move this technology forward. Requests were usually answered with “It depends” or “Sure I would.” You can make the same request, then give amenable patients a letter of introduction (see sample, above) and the list of venues in the area (gradually expanded to include Auracast).
Explain that you hope to advance these systems in the community to help all hearing aid users hear great. Compare them to curb cuts for wheelchairs: they are available to everyone, anytime; and hearing accessibility should be available to everyone anytime. You can describe how one person took information to a minister or library with a request to make the facility more hearing friendly/accessible and successfully made a difference. Then tell them, “If you hand this letter to a person in charge, you may be that person who makes more assistive listening systems, including Auracast broadcast audio, available in our community.” Many clients have even helped with funding. Cost is often not the main issue. Lack of knowledge is.
Juliëtte Sterkens, AuD, having retired from private practice, is currently in her “encore career” as the hearing access advocate for the national nonprofit Center for Hearing Access to help promote access to assistive listening systems and other technologies. She was previously a consultant on assistive listening with the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA). She can be reached at [email protected].
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