How do we get clear information about hearing assistive technology?

Then, once patients/consumers are aware of assistive listening, I'm wondering if people have ideas as to why consumers may be reluctant to provide feedback to the facility about their experience, via email, social media, letter, etc.?

Feedback includes thanking them for a well-functioning system, as well as suggestions for when the assistive listening system doesn't work or if there is missing equipment.

@hedgerow It's very important to share feedback with venues that are trying to provide communication access for us. If it's not working, tell them. If it is working, tell them how much it matters to you.

I do know that it can be difficult to share either type of feedback. To whom do you go to talk? Do you send a note, an email, or talk to them personally? When I attend movies I always request the caption devices as we don't have other tech in our area. The cup holder caption device does work. I have tried the caption glasses at a demo at an HLAA convention and found them awkward to wear over my glasses. Good to know there is a new model. Please let us know how it works!

Hearing loss complicates so many things. Communication barriers are huge and poorly understood. For example, when asking for a device it's usually noisy. When returning that after the movie it's noisy. Noise makes it difficult for us to converse. Reality. Send a note? To whom? The advocacy we need to do isn't easy, but it is important. Do you best to figure it out!

Hearing loop technology is wonderful, but it can pass through walls just as FM technology can. You don't want to be in one room listening to what's going on in an adjacent room. I hope with all my heart that when Auracast finally becomes available that kind of barrier will be eliminated. Meanwhile....keep educating and advocating!!

@hedgerow
I have printed the telecoil instructions.
My left HA is a transmitter. The right HA is an Oticon Real3miniRite R. There were 5 different price options and I chose the mid price option. I remember asking about the telecoil but am not remembering what was decided or why. I have a tracfone and it was not app compatible.
I would not be putting any blame on the audiologist. I feel she was just working with my condition and the resources I had. I'm sure she'll be responsive. My insurance allows for some HA coverage every 3 yrs so I will have these until 9/26.
Thanks for your concern and I appreciate your help. Ditto to Julie
suzanne

@jdalylew I"m not sure about this statement "Even in theatres" ALL theaters should be providing assistive listening. 3 kinds:
--Hearing loop (easily connect with your telecoil in your hearing aid/cochlear implant)
--FM and infrared. Borrow a neckloop with receiver to use with telecoil

So I'm curious what you experience with your comment "vary tremendously from theatre to theatre" Is it a difference in volume or a difference in audio quality? Do you know if the staff always checks the system before EVERY production?

I think caption glasses would work in close one-to-one settings.

I too am very curious how the caption glasses work - tiny microphones like our hearing aids that are asked to pick up sounds across great distances, which is somewhat impossible in a theater. Also, I'm wondering about the delay (AI needs time to process the sounds) and accuracy.

For those who are reading and may not know. A different technology cannot substitute for assistive listening
FALSE: "we have caption glasses, so assistive listening isn't needed" or
FALSE "we have CART, we have caption glasses, so assistive listening isn't needed"

@pmrsuzie I say to all in this chain that the role out of Auracast cannot happen soon enough.
It is my understanding that it is far cheaper to set up with far better sound quality.
Telecoil is expensive to set up and many venues don’t offer it.
Has anyone experienced Auracast yet?

@hedgerow I need to clarify my comment on captioned glasses for theaters versus captioned glasses that have come out this past year for conversation, such as Captify. The glasses for theaters work differently. The theater spends the 1st week of a new play capturing the conversations in the performance (the script) and inputting it into the glasses. Sort of like programming the glasses. So the glasses are not available typically for the first week of a new production. When they are available, assuming the actors/actresses don't ad lib too much, then the inputted script is what goes across the screen on your glasses. You can be in the 1st row or the last row of the theater and still have the same script running across your lenses. You can also adjust where the captions run across your 'screen' - at the top of the lens or at the bottom depending on where you are sitting. Glasses like Captify are reliant on tiny microphones on the frames that pick up the speakers and using Speech to Text, having the conversation run across your lenses. They work just like captioning apps on your phone.

Because I would use them for close conversation, I would not wear them on top of my prescription glasses. You can get prescription lenses for Captify glasses (they are the only one I tried at the HLAA Convention). I plan on buying a pair this Fall after some more research.

@daveshaw Yes Auracast will solve some problems, but not all. Even if every venue were to install it today, all hearing aids can't connect to it today (some manufacturers haven't even released their hearing aids). The international standard is expected late 2027 to address multiple issues.

Why do you say many venues don't offer assistive listening systems (hearing loop, FM/RF, infrared)? It is required under the ADA in the United States and disability laws in multiple countries. Have you found a venue without assistive listening, and if so, did you submit a complaint?

There are two types of Auracast streams. The lower stream 24 kHz is for hearing aids, the higher stream 48 kHz is for high quality audio.

@hedgerow I need to clarify my comment on captioned glasses for theaters versus captioned glasses that have come out this past year for conversation, such as Captify. The glasses for theaters work differently. The theater spends the 1st week of a new play capturing the conversations in the performance (the script) and inputting it into the glasses. Sort of like programming the glasses. So the glasses are not available typically for the first week of a new production. When they are available, assuming the actors/actresses don't ad lib too much, then the inputted script is what goes across the screen on your glasses. You can be in the 1st row or the last row of the theater and still have the same script running across your lenses. You can also adjust where the captions run across your 'screen' - at the top of the lens or at the bottom depending on where you are sitting. Glasses like Captify are reliant on tiny microphones on the frames that pick up the speakers and using Speech to Text, having the conversation run across your lenses. They work just like captioning apps on your phone.

Because I would use them for close conversation, I would not wear them on top of my prescription glasses. You can get prescription lenses for Captify glasses (they are the only one I tried at the HLAA Convention). I plan on buying a pair this Fall after some more research.