Musings from the TV Room
Denise Portis talks about using the telecoil in her hearing aid to watch and hear
TV. What a surprise she was in for when she switched it on!
I had a personal loop system hooked up in my living room this week. My
husband set the loop under “my” chair and attached it to the television. At first I was skeptical, because I have
relied on closed captioning for a number of years now.
I was amazed at what I could hear!
I use the T-switch (telecoil or T-coil) on my hearing aid often. Sometimes
I use it with my FM system at meetings, and sometimes when the room has an audio loop. (Although that is rare and a completely
separate topic!). However, I have never used the T-switch with a personal loop system to watch TV. My preconceived notion was that I would only hear amplification of the voices.
The first thing I just had to watch was The Fellowship of the
Ring on
DVD. As a Lord of the Rings fan, I dismally sat through four different trips to the theater when it first came out
in attempts to “hear.” (My family shares my passion for Tolkien so luckily they enjoyed coming with me four times).
I couldn’t wait for it to be released on video/DVD so that I could really
“hear” through closed captioning!
After enjoying the captioned version at home, I thought I had experienced
this movie to its fullest…NOT! I almost jumped out of my chair when I heard
ole Gollum’s voice for the first time. (Jumping out of your chair in fright
renders the aforementioned personal loop ineffective!) My children at first were
tickled at “the things Mom was actually hearing.”
I’d pause the movie often to ask, “What was THAT?…That
noise right here?…What was THAT?????”
Their prompt reply was: “That’s the noise the horses make
when their hooves hit the ground, Mom!”
Another ten minutes pass, and again I pause the movie, “Oh my gosh!
What is that SOUND? What is that???”
Again, their reply: “Mom, that is the sound of leaves crunching
when their boots hit the ground as they walk through the forest!”
At this point they were sitting on the edge of their seats! What sounds will Mom hear next? I noticed out of the corner
of my eye that they kept poking each other and smiling as I literally sat there with my mouth hanging open!
In another five minutes,”Oh geesh! What
is THAT? What is that SOUND?”
Now, this one took a minute or two for the kids to rewind, review, and
figure out what I was hearing. Then, they announced, “That is the wind
whipping through the trees!”
New-Found Hearing in the TV Room
I could continue, but suffice it to say that I spent many minutes crying
my eyes out for what I was hearing! My family couldn’t figure out if I was thrilled or upset! I heard noises in this
movie that I had forgotten about. I had forgotten that footsteps would stomp, stomp, stomp up the stairs of an old tavern.
Too long it had been since I heard the water from a small stream as it tumbled
over the rocks.
So, I sat there — crying and laughing, pausing and questioning.
I enjoyed a movie with my family, and enjoyed it using my hearing. (The kids?
Well they were getting a little tired of all the pausing! Who could blame them?)
My husband, just as excited, did all the sound checks: “Is it working
okay? Can I adjust the volume? What are you hearing that you haven’t heard
before?” (Grin. Talk about individual attention!)
I fear my housework may suffer, and perhaps we’ll be living on take-out
pizza for a while. After all, I have a whole shelf of movies to “hear”
again!
The above was reprinted from the Nov./Dec. 2003 issue of “Hearing Loss Journal”
by permission from SHHH(HLAA) (www.hearingloss.org)
"The device works wonderfully. First
time I've heard TV in decades of fooling with various systems that use earphones. I don't intend to be without this thing
for another moment."
“Wanted to let you know that for the
first time in many years, I can hear my TV without blowing my wife out of the room.”
The following was posted
on the SHHH Message Board:
"I am currently trying out a Univox Audio Loop system from Pure Direct Sound. (Their website
is www.puredirectsound.com if anyone is interested). The unit can attach to either a microphone, TV or a telephone. I watched Sue Thomas FBI (eye) on TV tonight and could understand most of what was
spoken. My wife does not have a hearing loss and prefers the volume much lower than I need it to be in order to hear and understand,
so hearing and understanding most of the program on low TV volume was a big improvement for me. The Univox utilizes the T coils in my Siemens 3P BTE hearing aids.
I can control the volume to my hearing aids from the univox, so it does not matter how low the volume on the TV is. I just set the volume control on the univox to the setting I need. The amplified sound
is routed through my hearing aids which are fitted to my particular loss. I also
connected the Univox system to my telephone. I found it much easier to understand a soft voice on the phone by hearing
it amplified simultaneously in both ears. That was a new experience for me, but
it is one I will be repeating." "The device works wonderfully. First time I've heard TV in decades of fooling with various
systems that use earphones. I don't intend to be without this thing for another moment…."
“It is absolutely superb. The sound was so clear that I turned off the captioning and just used the loop. Wow, I love it.”
“I'm sitting here upstairs on my exercise
ball at the computer and LISTENING to the TV. For the first time ever I'm not
"attached" to ANYTHING. What a glorious feeling.
I'm so excited I almost fell off the exercise ball!!!!”
"My home uses a loop around the outside of the house, at a level of the first floor ceiling or conversely at floor
level of the second story. I have input into the system the sound from TV, stereo, telephone, alarms, door and telephone ringers.
Additionally, I can place a wide area microphone close to any sitting area (dining room, living room) and hear table conversations.
My wife has a portable, wireless microphone she can use to communicate with me from out side the house in the garden or garage.
To access these sounds it is only necessary to turn "on" the telecoil (telephone switch, t-switch) on my hearing aids. It
also affords me the advantage to hear the telephone with both ears."
"I want to tell you my experience with
the Univox 2A. My wife has exceptionally good hearing and in the past, we always had a problem. Either the TV sound was too
low for me, or too loud for her. Sometimes it really caused some rather heated discussions. Last night was the first trial
of the Univox 2A. I can't tell you how happy we both are! So thanks to the Univox, we don't see any more problems for
us."
