Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Soundfield systems/induction loops: easier listening

[Lisa Kuntz (lisa.kuntz]

I'm a hearing impaired member of Daybreak Cohousing and want to share that
I am able to participate in our monthly plenaries thanks to the type of
sound system recommended by Laura, who is a PhD Audiologist with decades of
experience.

Before we had our sound system, plenaries just didn't flow as smoothly
because people were working so hard to hear.  In addition, there are two
mics, one that the speaker wears around their neck and a "flex-mic" that is
passed by a runner to those who want to address the meeting. We insist that
participants speak *only *into the mic and wait until the mic is in their
hand.  A happy outcome is that we automatically have a structure that
(mostly) prevents people from interrupting each other and there is almost
no cross-talk. Our meetings are more (mostly) more harmonious because
people don't have to ask questions about what was said and people know that
they will get a turn to speak.

I have also used the sound system when I've hosted presentations at
Daybreak, often for older audiences, and the presenters are amazed and
grateful that we have such high-quality equipment.

Everyone can pay attention to what was said instead of *wondering* if they
heard it accurately.

Lisa Kuntz
Daybreak Cohousing
Portland OR





On Wed, Mar 4, 2026 at 7:33 AM Elizabeth Magill via Cohousing-L <
cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:

> The difficulty is that many sound systems are painful to people. It is
> easy to have too much gain and sharpness to the sound.
> And we rarely use the model of presenter and listeners.
>
> I was hoping to hear that a loop system is the answer and am
> disappointed to find out some hearing aids don't connect to them.
> Mine do, but I've rarely been anywhere that has a system.
>
> I know from my experience with my phone that having the sound in the
> hearing aid, rather than amplified in the room provides a much higher
> increase in my ability to discern different letter sounds.
>
> -Liz
> (The Rev. Dr.) Elizabeth Mae Magill
> Join my email newsletter about how we can Act! Be Church Now in the
> resistance. https://actbechurchnow.kit.com/posts
> www.elizabethmaemagill.com
> 508-450-0431
>
> On Wed, Mar 4, 2026 at 7:14 AM Laura Polich via Cohousing-L
> <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
> >
> > I see that people are discussing how to improve the acoustics in meetings
> > and other large and noisy rooms. Wonderful.
> >
> > I see some people here are advocating for induction loop systems.
> Looping a
> > room is often a good idea and can improve ability of people to hear, BUT,
> > you have to have a telecoil switch on hearing aids or another device to
> > pick up the signal and get it into the listener's ears. The loop itself
> > does not put out an acoustic signal. It sends out a magnetic signal which
> > hearing aid telecoils can pick up and translate to acoustic energy that
> is
> > processed by the hearing aid. The problem is that telecoils are not so
> > common nowadays. You can usually order a telecoil program or a switch
> when
> > buying hearing aids (or cochlear implants), but for some companies you
> have
> > to choose between the telecoil and some other feature (can't have both
> > features). Often people choose the other feature because they don't know
> > how useful telecoils can be. So I hesitate to recommend loop systems
> > because they might not be available to some hearing aid users and they do
> > very little for people who could use some acoustic boost but are not yet
> at
> > the stage of getting hearing aids.
> >
> > A better option (in my humble opinion) is a sound-field amplification
> > system. This is a system that transfers the signal from a microphone to
> > speaker(s) placed around the room. Just like loop systems, the speaker
> > talks into a microphone but the sound is amplified for everyone (acoustic
> > to acoustic, rather than magnetic to acoustic). The goal is simply to
> make
> > the signal (what you want to hear) louder than the ambient noise (what
> you
> > don't want to hear). It does not take that much volume to do that. A
> signal
> > 5 dB louder than ambient noise (5 dB signal-to-noise ratio) will sound a
> > bunch better, and a signal-to-noise ratio of +10 (signal is 10 dB louder
> > than ambient noise) is usually sufficient for almost everyone to hear
> > easily (people with severe hearing loss might need a higher
> signal-to-noise
> > ratio). The amplified signal is available to everyone -- those with
> hearing
> > aids, but also those not using hearing aids. Everyone in the room hears
> > with less effort. These are recommended for classrooms which are rather
> > noisy environments. Daybreak Cohousing has been using a sound-field
> > amplification system for at least five years. At first we had many
> members
> > who did not want to spend the money on the system because they felt that
> > they personally did not need amplification so it would be a waste ("we
> hear
> > just fine without an extra piece of equipment.") With persistence, we did
> > get the system, and after a few weeks of using it, people kept coming up
> to
> > me saying how much easier and less stressful it was to sit through
> meetings
> > -- and they were the ones with "normal" hearing! The people with hearing
> > loss were even more ecstatic. Now we use the soundfield system at every
> > plenary, and we have also used it at many community functions, and even
> > outside groups using our Common House use it, and it always gets rave
> > reviews. It is portable, so it can even be taken to off-campus events.
> >
> > We bought a "Redcat" system from the Lightspeed company in Tualatin,
> Oregon
> > (suburb of Portland) (https://lightspeed-tek.com/about/). The Redcat is
> > easily set up, easily portable and easy to use. It is commonly used in
> > elementary classrooms (where teachers want a trouble-free, easy-to-use
> > system) and one of the people who benefits most is the teacher because
> they
> > no longer have to shout to be heard by the students (a lot less fatigue
> at
> > the end of the day). The loudspeaker plugs into an electrical outlet, but
> > the microphones have to be charged with a charger. The biggest problem we
> > have with the system is when someone forgets to charge the microphones
> > before the meeting.  We chose Lightspeed because it was a company close
> to
> > us so it would be easier to get troubleshooting or repair support, and it
> > was less expensive. There are multiple good companies making soundfield
> > amplification systems all over the US (and internationally) so there are
> > many options to choose from.
> >
> > Laura Polich
> > Daybreak Cohousing
> > Portland, Oregon
> > _________________________________________________________________
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> >
> >
> >
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