Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Hearing impaired members in common house

[Elana Kann (ekann]

My father is extremely hard of hearing, and we have two systems in our
common house at Westwood in Asheville, NC that enable him and others with
more minor hearing problems to participate in meetings. So I asked him to
describe what we have for those who want to find & install similar systems.
--Elana Kann


>From Seymour:
First, we have a PA system that helps people with minor hearing problems.
Second, I have severe hearing problems, and the PA system does not help me,
just as described in the Coho-L messages for hard-of-hearing people
elsewhere.  I use the Easy Listener, which takes the signal electronically
from the PA system, converts it to FM, and sends it to me, where it is
converted back to an audio signal and fed into my hearing aids, free of any
other sounds or echoes.  This enables me to hear essentially everything
clearly, and it works beautifully.  FM and IR systems that work like this,
using one transmitter and multiple receivers, are in use in many churches
and synagogues and in theaters.
 
PA system
 
We purchased all the parts of our PA system at Radio Shack.  The folks there
were very helpful in figuring out what we needed.  Here is a list of the
pieces of equipment that we have.
 
    2        Radio Shack Cat. No. 32-1230A        Multi-Channel Professional
Wireless Microphone
    1        Radio Shack Cat. No. 32-1231A        Multi-Channel Professional
Wireless Lapel Microphone
    2        Radio Shack Cat. No. 32-1233           Multi-Channel
Professional Wireless Microphone Receiver
 
(One for each microphone that you plan to use)
    1        Optimus SA-155                                    Integrated
Stereo Amplifier
 
(This is the mixer into which the 2 microphone receivers feed)
    1        Optimus                                                  900
MHz Wireless Speakers Wireless Audio Transmitter
    2        Speakers                                                I don't
have the identification readily at hand.
 
These were all purchased in 1998/1999.  As nearly as I can recall, the whole
batch of stuff cost something like $400 to $500.  I think you would do well
to consult with Radio Shack staff people.  Tell them what you are aiming at
and go from there.
 
Here at Westwood, we generally use 2 microphones, either the 2 hand-held
ones or one hand-held and one lapel.  One is used by the
chair/facilitator/focalizer, the other is passed around to speakers from the
floor.  All of our members understand clearly that they must use a mike
whenever they talk.  Thus this system imposes a desirable discipline that
helps to keep our meetings more orderly than they might otherwise be at
times. 
 
EASY LISTENER
 
My Easy Listener system operates on FM and consists of two small units, a
transmitter and a receiver.  The cost, as I recall, is about $700.  I use it
for sound reception in TV programs, at our community meetings here at
Westwood, and occasionally in other situations, most notably when we are
traveling and I can persuade the tour guide to cooperate.  
 
For TV, the transmitter plugs into the headset jack on the set.  This
operation, at least with our TV sets, cuts off the normal sound track.  So
when my wife and I are both watching a program I plug into one set and we
watch on another.  For community meetings I plug the transmitter into the PA
system, which we need for the rest of our members.  When on a tour I can
give the guide a lapel microphone connected by wire to the transmitter,
which can be carried in a pocket or hooked to a belt.  
 
I have two options for connecting the receiver.  The first is to plug it
into a wire loop that I wear around my neck, essentially a necklace.  The
second is to use a two-wire cable, in which each wire terminates in a small
shoe that fits onto a normal hearing aid.  My Phonak aids are designed to
accept these shoes; I don't know whether other aids are similarly equipped.
Phonak was the original manufacturer of the Easy Listener, which they spun
off as a separate company a few years ago.  The remote control for my
hearing-aid system offers me a choice of three operating modes: M for normal
direct sound reception; T for telephone and FM; and MT/D for both.  With the
necklace in place, I can use only T; with the shoe connections, I can use
either T or MT/D.  
 
I purchased this system through my audiologist/hearing-aid specialist.
 
Sy