Assistive Listening Solutions

HLAA Turns 31!

Every year at this time, we commemorate the anniversary of our organization. In 1979, Founder Howard E. Rocky Stone founded the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) as Self Help for Hard of Hearing People.

Room with long rectangular tables and green classroom-style chairs behind them with a podium at the front of the room.

The Battle For Better Hearing

It is a common misnomer that adding audio to a room will make others in the room hear “better”. While the sound pressure level (SPL) is increased, it does not necessarily make the audio more intelligible especially the human voice and a live microphone. In the past few years, companies have invested heavily in research and development to make the learning environment audibly better. Often times, the nemesis of an intelligible environment are feedback and reverberation. I want to touch on a few items of focus that will make the audio learning experience more enjoyable and give you a few challenges/techniques for improving intelligibility within your room.

Five young adult men all dressed in black with their hands up to their ears as if they're trying to hear better

Take That Line Up To Support Hear The World Campaign

Ambassador for Hear the World: Take That, photographed by Bryan Adams holding the Hear the Worldpose – with one hand cupped behind their ear to convey conscious hearing.

car show with cars lined up on the grass as crowds of people walk around with a beautiful blue sky and white fluffy clouds

Associated Sound Distributes Audio Without Wires

Associated Sounds rental department saw the benefit of Listen transmitters and stationary receivers as far back as 2000.Our rental department started using the LT-800 Stationary Transmitters at the USA Olympic Track & Field Trials to get sound from the main track to the adjacent practice track.

An Audio Guy Gets A Hearing Aid

I admit it, I never had my hearing checked until a few weeks ago. That’s kinda ironic for a guy who provides assistive listening solutions! It wasn’t a surprise to me that I have significant hearing loss in my left ear and some age related hearing loss on my right side. Like most people, I wasn’t that interested in using hearing aids. My “perception” was that they are for “old” people. Of course, now that I’m 55 years old, my definition of “old” keeps changing…. None the less, it’s just not that exciting to think about wearing hearing aids.

young man with short, brown hair working at a desk writing on paper looking at an assistive listening receiver with a universal ear speaker over one ear

Grants for Assistive Listening Devices

More than 30 million Americans suffer from hearing loss, according to the Starkey Hearing Foundation. Hearing aids and other assistive listening technology such as FM assistive listening systems, audio looping in public venues and churches, closed-caption devices and TTY-devices for telephones, allow individuals with hearing disabilities to lead independent lives. A number of private and nonprofit organizations offer grants for a variety of assistive listening devices and outreach services for those with hearing loss.

Group photo of smiling students huddled together holding up a quilt.

Take A Moment To Hear The World

Imagine going through high school and never being able to hear someone whispering in your ear, or whispering about you for that matter. Or being…

Get More From Your Assistive Listening System

How would you like to get more usage out of your assistive listening system? Well, you can and it’s pretty easy. If you have an assistive listening system it’s likely you have a stationary transmitter – this is the device that connects to an audio source like a sound board, microphone, or other devices and is typically the audio you are trying to deliver to those individuals that need auditory assistance. Your system will also include the listening devices for those individuals. The receiver captures the audio signal from the transmitter and the listener hears it via an earphone that plugs into the receiver.

View of a community center from the stage looking out to empty rows of seating with a second tier of seating at the back of the room.

Omaha Community Playhouse

In its eighty fifth season, the Omaha Community Playhouse (OCP) continues to offer an outstanding array of plays, musicals, and unique adult and child educational programming towards achieving its mission of enriching the Omaha community through great theatre.

Accommodation for Effective Communication

Yesterday I had the pleasure of joining our Rep Firm Ellison Northwest for their inaugural AudioFest Northwest event. Dave and Anne Ellison coordinated nine of their manufacturing partners to spend a day focused on educating customers about their respective product solutions.