What is Looping?

Americans spend an average of 5 hours per day watching TV. And, if you have any hearing issues, you spend even more time listening to television since you’re not going out and socializing as much…it’s not fun when you don’t know what people are talking about and it can be embarrassing.

Besides, even when you go to the movies or theater, you really don’t enjoy it. And everyone is annoyed when you keep saying, “What?” “What did she say?”

So you stay home watching TV, but you can’t understand what they’re saying half the time and turning up the volume doesn’t help.  Especially with Downton Abbey.  Who can understand those foreign accents? Then, your spouse and kids complain the TV’s too loud and turn it down!

Imagine clearly hearing and understanding every word on your favorite TV show. Imagine going to a movie, play or drive-thru Starbucks and hearing everything clearly? Imagine going to church or synagogue and actually enjoying the sermon?

With hearing loops, you can! Ever since composer Richard Einhorn, wrote about his experience at Kennedy Center, looping has been taking the country by storm.

“There I was at ‘Wicked’ weeping uncontrollably – and I don’t even like musicals,” he said. “For the first time since I lost most of my hearing, live music was perfectly clear, perfectly clean and incredibly rich.”

Looping is basically just a copper wire placed around a room that’s hooked up to a transmitter that’s connected to the sound source (a microphone, the TV). The wire emits a magnetic signal. Most hearing devices have a tiny coil inside that also emits a magnetic symbol. When the little coil is turned on, the transmitter sends the signal (voice) directly into your hearing devices and voila! You hear everything right into your ears. It’s like magic.

The best part is, besides finally knowing what’s going on, is you don’t have to wear a big bulky headset that announces to the world you can’t hear.  And, it’s not isolating. You can hear everything that’s going on and still talk to the person next to you.

When you see this symbol to the left, just touch the button on your hearing devices (or remote control) to activate the coil. Now, sit back and enjoy!

P.S.  Even if you don’t have hearing devices, can still enjoy hearing through looping. Just ask to borrow a headset.