Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Experiences with hearing loops in common spaces?

[Carol Agate (carolagate]

Alison,

With a moderate hearing loss you will probably find an accessory microphone is 
a helpful aid. They are mostly proprietary, so whether one is available depends 
on your hearing aid brand. Check with your audiologist. You need hearing aids 
with Bluetooth — or if the aids are old you can wear a streamer around your 
neck. 

I have Phonak hearing aids and place the mic (called a Roger On) in the middle 
of the meeting. This has worked pretty well. Or, if people are willing, you can 
use a mic as a talking stick.

I carry my own captioning device with me. I use a separate cell phone, a brand 
called BLU. It cost $150 (a few years ago) and download the app Live 
Transcribe, which is free. The BLU doesn’t require a telephone service. There 
are captions that can be downloaded onto an iPhone, but I find they shut down 
the hearing aids, so a separate phone is best. With the BLU buy the 6Gb. (If 
you buy the 3Gb it needs wifi to work. With the 6Gb you use wifi only once, to 
download the app.) 

There are now glasses available with captioning. You might want to try Captify. 

You received another reply recommending a hearing loop. That’s a recommendation 
I made for years, but I rarely do now. It requires a telecoil in hearing aids 
and hearing aid manufacturers have been dropping telecoils in many hearing 
aids. I believe Auracast, a new sound system, is going to replace loops (which 
require telecoils). Loops are expensive to install. But if you do have 
telecoils a portable loop might be good. I don’t have experience with them — 
other than seeing them on counters in stores, museums, and hotels. I have yet 
to see one where the person behind the counter knows how to use it.

There is a lot of technology involved nowadays in coping with hearing loss. 
Here are some suggestions:

The best way to learn is from others by joining a local chapter of the Hearing 
Loss Association of America. (There is also a Hearing Loss Association of 
Canada.) The web site for HLAA is hearingloss.org <http://hearingloss.org/> 
There is loads of info there. You can subscribe to a daily listing of chapter 
programs on zoom.

In our meetings we always have some members on zoom. The captions are turned 
on, and their accuracy has been steadily improving.

On youtube go to Dr.Cliff for his advice on everything. There is also an 
Australian audiologist whose link will pop up.

Google Auracast. I suspect Canada may be ahead of the US in technology; Europe 
is.

There is a lot to learn. Feel free to write if you have any questions.

Carol 






> On Feb 28, 2026, at 7:36 PM, Mabel Liang <mabel [at] twomeeps.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Allison, 
> 
> I've cc'd Carol Agate, a former resident who only moved out last month to 
> senior living.  She has a lot of experience with the Hearing Loss Society and 
> can describe her experiences here with captioning and the other equipment 
> we've tried.  I think the captioning worked _pretty_ well for her.  She has 
> used it both with an app on her phone and Zoom's captioning.
> 
> I've also cc'd Avi Pfeffer, who donated some equipment that we used when the 
> meetings were only in person, pre-COVID.  They involved mikes and individual 
> receivers, I think, but he can describe them better.
> 
> Good luck!
> 
> -- Mabel :-)
> 
> mabel [at] twomeeps.com <mailto:mabel [at] twomeeps.com>
> Mabel Liang
> Cornerstone Village Cohousing
> Cambridge, MA
> 
> Software Engineer turned Gardener
> On 2026-02-28 17:21, Allison Tom via Cohousing-L wrote:
> 
>> Hello All,
>> 
>> I have a moderate hearing loss and use hearing aids, but I am constantly
>> struggling to hear in meetings in our common house. Some of it seems to be
>> about the acoustics of the space, and some about people not remembering to
>> speak up.
>> 
>> I'd be really interested to hear from anyone who has tried installing a
>> hearing loop or other adaptive equipment in common space. Also, has anyone
>> tried captioning?
>> 
>> Many thanks, Allison Tom
>> Driftwood Village Cohousing
>> North Vancouver, British Columbia
>> _________________________________________________________________
>> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
>> http://L.cohousing.org/info <http://l.cohousing.org/info>
>> 
>> 
>>