Hearing loss: What do event planners need to know?

I forgot to add Otter.

@alice44
Hi,

Yes, only Android so far.. I have an Android.....tried Otter a couple of times but prefer Live Transcribe which picked up where Otter did not. I’ll keep trying Otter.

FL Mary

I tried AVA but got poor results.

Programs that include a PowerPoint in addition to the spoken program are really helpful. I had an additional big downturn in hearing recently; up until then I could puzzle out much of what was happening, esp. when there were visual clues. Now, my hearing ear is often almost as useless as the one that's been useless for over 30 years. I'm the curriculum director for a learning group (weekly lectures) and am now finding dealing with future speakers (can't use phones) is particularly difficult. It's embarrassing when I don't really know what the lecture covered. <g> Asking HOH to simply leave the group isn't a good solution at all. It's bad enough to miss a fair amount, but to be told to leave would really smart. I have Meniere's, which means my hearing fluctuates; some days I can hear fairly well with one aid, while other days are virtually hopeless. Sometimes my hearing is okay, but shuts down right in the middle of a sentence--or it can turn on suddenly. Meniere's also offers distortion, more on bad days, so it's not even possible to wear an aid some days as the combination of recruitment and distortion bring in painful sound without allowing understanding.

That's correct. I bought an Android tablet, but need to add a mic for group meetings as the tablet can't pick up soft voices well. Also, Live Transcribe doesn't show up as an installed app (a known problem), so I have to ask to download it each time I start it--just search for it without downloading so that it appears and fires up. It also requires WiFi, which is often missing in my small town's various meeting places. I believe the WiFi provides the dictionary of words the app requires. It does well with rich voices but fails with voices that don't have lots of overtones.

As a person with severe to profound loss, this is how I survive. Large room settings are challenging. Because hearing loss varies, being able to read what is spoken is best. If CART is not available, I use speech-to-text from my phone. I've found the app Live Transcribe to be the best. I bought an Android, even though I have an iPhone, just for this purpose. It will not be used for phone calls so does not incur any monthly fees. You can get an unlocked Android for $40. If the venue doesn't have Wi-Fi, I use my iPhone as a hotspot. In areas that do not have cellular coverage, I use the Otter app on my iPhone, which does not require Wi-Fi. In one of my support groups, I have elderly members that do not have cell phones. In this case, amplification is the way to go when none of the above is an option. If the room has an induction loop system installed, then people with telecoils in their hearing aids will hear the audio. For people without telecoils, the venue should have loop receivers to pick up the signal. The person given the receiver should also have the option of getting headphones or a neckloop to get the audio from the receiver to their ears. Unfortunately, most people outside of HLAA do not know about loops and telecoils. If the venue has pass-around microphones, the remote mic would best be placed near the PA system speaker. If pass-around mics are not used, then the remote mic is best given to the person speaking. If questions come from the audience, then the person speaking MUST repeat those questions. Most people with hearing loss do not have other Hearing Assistive Technology (HAT) besides their hearing aids. Hopefully, the venue has some type of FM or digital system so that the person with hearing loss would be given a receiver. Hopefully, headphones or a neckloop would be provided to get the audio from the receiver to their ears. Now, for breakout sessions, this is even more challenging. Speech-to-text doesn't work good enough when there's a lot of background conversation unless the phone is used as a pass-around mic. I would give my phone to the person speaking and then get it back to make sure I could read what was said. Another option is to use a personal amplifier with a microphone that could be extended. The mic could be passed to person speaking. Both of these options are cumbersome so the best option is to move the breakout group to a quieter area and have them meet back after a set time. Hope I covered everything.
Tony in Michigan

I am only deaf on one side so my suggestions might not be appropriate for those with more total hearing losses, but here they are.

Seek out venues that invest in a high quality PA system. When I could hear better most PA systems and microphones were terrible. Now with limited hearing I notice that far more!

Test, test, test the room! Ask if folks can hear more than just the 'hello, can you hear me?' intro.

Low tech -- hand out copies of the materials so the hard of hearing can follow along rather than giving them out at the end. I know many speakers prefer to give out their notes at the end of presentations so folks look and listen to them more intently, but if you can't hear well that is self-defeating. Also I'd add it is important to have any videos presented to have captioning on them.

I am old so I am WAY over being sensitive to people knowing I have hearing loss, so I appreciate when a speaker acknowledges that there are or might be hearing impaired folks in the audience so they are doing X, Y, or Z to help those folks. Plus tell folks it is ok to let the speaker know if they wander outside the mic's range, drop their voice volume, etc.

Thank you for the excellent coverage of speech to text options. I have tried several but my I-phone doesn't do well with any so far. I am presenting a talk to older (70s+) group and asked them to bring their smartphones to the talk. You have an excellent assessment of that age group who may not have any phone much less a smartphone. I will have to rethink my idea of getting captions of my talk to the group. The venue has no equipment and in a room that is not built for technology.

Scott, very helpful suggestions for me as I prepare for my talk to groups of 70s+. I believe handing out copies of the outline is my best way to handle the delivery in a no technology room.

Thanks so much toniinmi!!! You've given me food for thought before meeting with an audiologist in a couple of weeks. I live on the Oregon coast, where hills prevent cell reception in many areas, even what we laughingly refer to as "downtown." While tourist motels/hotels have WiFi for guests, most meeting rooms do not. I'm definitely in the "old" group you refer to (77), and I only had a flip phone until my partner in running a volunteer river surveying program showed me, in a steep wilderness canyon, how well smartphone GPS works (better than even really good GPS units). I have a IPhone 6 now, but my serious downturn in hearing due to Meniere's happened just after I got the phone, so I've been concentrating on getting my aid reset to work with the phone and learning to use both the phone and an Android tablet I bought in order to utilize Live Transcribe. The idea that anyone lives where there's zero cell reception just doesn't get through to young techs in Portland or Salem. We live in the spruce forest only a couple of blocks east of that big antenna (ocean), but we have zero cell reception at home, rely on cable and a modem for phone, 'net, TV. I need to be able to participate in both small group and large group meetings that cover technical stuff, like water rights, stream flows, fish genetics. Because Meniere's not only reduces hearing but adds distortion and recruitment, on a bad day I'm pretty clueless during any meeting.