You Have a Right to Communication Access

This is a strange time to ask this question, as some of us are only now getting out to in-person meetings again. Many of us still do not.

For me, the ongoing use of masks has been the most severe impediment to communication access, as I almost can’t hear anything while wearing a mask. In my synagogue I get a thingy to hang on one ear so I can hear the service. It only works on my less-impaired ear, and often gets tangled with the mask straps. It’s a really pathetic accommodation. Before the pandemic, though, I considered advocating for a telecoil, but was ambivalent because my own hearing aids don’t have one, and I don’t know how many others’ do (we have many hearing-aid wearers). So I couldn’t think how to move forward with it.

So advocating for new tech while we’re still masked is not exactly top of mind.

I have used the closed captioning at the movies and when we went to see wicked on Broadway.

Hi,

About 5 or 6 years ago I attended a high school play at a local newly renovated live theater that my granddaughter was in. They had absolutely no hearing accommodations whatsoever. I mentioned to the ushers up front that it was an FDA violation etc. When we were in our seats an usher came down to me and took my personal information and said I would be contacted.
A week or so later one of the directors at the main (different) theater emailed me and stated that they were newly renovated and apologized and gave that as the reason for no accommodations. Two weeks later she emailed and said they had just installed a $7000 Senshauer (spelling?) system and invited me to tes it. There was another play that I attended about a month later and the ushers up front knew what devices they had but not how to use them.Theynfound someone who did and, to my dismay, it was headphones and some sort of gadget. We couldn’t get it to work when we were seated and the hearing people could not even hear anything. At the end of the play I let them know of the problem and emailed the same person. She responded and said they would get on it. We never returned to that particular theater but I let her know that the headphones would not work for anyone with hearing aids. You would have to remove the aids and use earplugs. The personnel upfront didn’t have a clue how to use them…….one was charged and no one ever asked my input. She got the message so I don’t know what improvements were made. I did say there were also no notices in the lobby that devices were available.
Knowing the caliber of the theaters involved I am sure they did pay attention but I had no reason to go back to that particular theater.
And that’s my story.

FL Mary

I have a terrible time with masks, not only hearing the other person but they also cause my aids to fall off. I have small ears and it is difficult to keep the processors in place at anytime. But you add strings and I really have a problem. The other day I was helping my husband with his walker and his mask (sort of hands full) when I immediately had to try and put a mask on. My CI hit the floor. Fortunately it was ok. Then it was almost impossible to get it to stay in place with the mask on and the doctor's receptionist kept asking me questions as I was trying to mumble, 'just a minute please'. Then Bill wanted to help so he was grabbing my hand and trying to grab the CI as well. A comedy of errors.

As you might have guessed, I really dislike masks!

We went on tours with a nice company pre pandemic, going to Africa, Greece, Italy….etc. Each time, the tour leader would pass out the hearing aid version of the plug in the ear one gets on such tours. Each time, we called prior to the trip to ask that this be available. Each time, there weren’t enough so we didn’t get one. If and when we can travel again, I plan to call the company and ask them to send us one to our home before the trip.

It's quite obvious that there is a need for this technology on these tours. They attract a lot of seniors, and a lot of seniors have hearing loss. Good for you to plan ahead. The good news is that this technology is getting used and people who need it are starting to learn it's available. I would be interested to know what kind of technology was in use. I suspect it was FM. We had a lot of FM tech in our community prior to advocacy for preferred hearing loops. FM is great because it's portable, but it requires receivers. You can purchase an FM receiver to use in places where FM tech is used. The only problem is that it has to be able to pick up the frequency that the transmitter is using. Often, that is 72.9 as that was set aside for this purpose. Some receivers can adjust to more options. Mentioning this only because you said they ran out of receivers. I hope that fact encouraged them to make more available. Thank you for sharing your experience. Are you planning to travel again soon?

Bet if we took a survey on masks that close to 100% of people who use hearing aids or cochlear implants would hate them with a passion! Do you know anyone who has lost a hearing aid due to masks? I know several.

That's a common story with grand kid's performances. My grandaughters were both in a high school that had an outstanding theater program. Over the 5 years they were involved, I mentioned hearing loops every time I attended a performance. They did have an FM system so that helped. I brought my own neckloop so I didn't have to remove my personal hearing devices. It is costly to install hearing loops, but in the long run, having something that people in the know can simply plug into w/o having to request a battery powered receiver from student volunteers who have no idea what they are for, would be much less trouble.

Again, it's about education and advocacy. We have to keep asking for it wherever we want or need to hear.

Most theaters do have captioning devices available. What captioning device did you use?

That's a dilemma I guess, but I hope we will soon be able to congregate w/o masks. So, no time like to present to start educating and advocating. It's a process. All hearing aids should have telecoils because it doubles the value of the hearing aid....but audiologists will argue that because they want to promote BlueTooth. BT is wonderful, but the two technologies can both be included in hearing aids and cochlear processors. It takes some education to teach hearing aid users how to use the telecoils. Education takes time. Time is ______. I hope you'll ask for a telecoil in the next hearing aid you buy. I don't think you will regret it if you learn how to use it.
What part of the country do you live in?