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Anyone have experiences with Audio Induction Loops?

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Re: Anyone have experiences with Audio Induction Loops?

#21

Post by sh4rkb0y »

dmi wrote: post #5

Hearing aids are at a frustrating crossroads at the moment, IMO. In my experience, a lot of the recent hearing aids don't seem to support induction loops. It often seems to be a choice between that or Bluetooth... and Auracast isn't ready yet. I've had Phonak bilateral hearing aids for 5 years, and Starkey unilateral for ~5 years before that. None of those have supported induction loops.

At the same time, those that have hearing aids often complain that T-coils aren't properly set up or turned on, even in public building where they are required to (at least in Norway).

"Yes, we have T-coils, but the person responsible for it isn't here right now, and no one here knows how to use it."

So, still quite a few limited factors to their actual usefulness in society unfortunately.

Re: Anyone have experiences with Audio Induction Loops?

#22

Post by hrimfaxi »

Luc wrote: post #14

You can use a 9V battery powered amplifier with a loop around your neck to make a tiny permanent magnet placed in your ear canal vibrate against your ear drum. It doesn't generate hi-fi sound, but speech is remarkably clear. Great for magic tricks. Or cheating at exams I suppose.

Has this actually been done before? It sounds fascinating. I have seen accounts of people embedding tiny magnets in their hands but not their ears.

Re: Anyone have experiences with Audio Induction Loops?

#23

Post by vermilingua »

hrimfaxi wrote: post #22
Luc wrote: post #14

You can use a 9V battery powered amplifier with a loop around your neck to make a tiny permanent magnet placed in your ear canal vibrate against your ear drum. It doesn't generate hi-fi sound, but speech is remarkably clear. Great for magic tricks. Or cheating at exams I suppose.

Has this actually been done before? It sounds fascinating. I have seen accounts of people embedding tiny magnets in their hands but not their ears.

I believe “permanent magnet” here refers to an object permanently magnetised, not a magnet permanently embedded in the ear canal.

Re: Anyone have experiences with Audio Induction Loops?

#24

Post by ErroneousBosh »

dmi wrote: post #6
ErroneousBosh wrote: post #3

They are a pain in the arse to set up properly and you really need a (edit: very patient, thank you for putting up with all my sine tones, Tommy) deaf person with a suitable hearing aid to help you set it up. If the loop is the wrong length and has the wrong impedance you'll never get the amp balanced up properly, and you can't just take the installer's word for it. Beyond that I have very little experience of them.

FWIW, it is also possible to get standalone induction receivers that you can plug headphones into, which can be useful for "is this working" checks (for example https://www.ampetronic.com/products/ilr3-audio-induction-loo... ). However you really need someone with hearing aids to tell if it's useful or not. I visit the theatre a lot: ~50 West End visits in 2025, plus several regional venues. It's amazing how many tim…

For the lecture theatre and classrooms at work, we've gone over to IR transmitters and a neckworn loop, which is apparently better for everyone. You can also just use it with IR headphones, which suits certain flavours of neurospicy.

Re: Anyone have experiences with Audio Induction Loops?

#25

Post by quercusa »

hhdave wrote: post #9
evolve2k wrote: post #2

A 20 year old friend recently had a hearing aid fitted. Despite the aid, audio quality remains crappy in many of the places we gather. Curious around the technology and value of Audio Induction Loops. Would love to hear anyone’s experiences, insights and thoughts on the tech. One of those niche technologies that you don’t use, unless you do use it.

We have one in our church, as all churches in the UK are legally required to have I think (many other venues too). As another commenter said you can get separate receivers, so I got one at one time to help with audio quality for live streaming. The loop signal comes straight out of the church PA, so from all the microphones and so the audio quality was very good, but there was a lot of hiss. I don't know if that's al…

> set up by someone who at least half knows what they're doing.

Finding someone like that is hard for many churches.

Re: Anyone have experiences with Audio Induction Loops?

#26

Post by Luc »

hrimfaxi wrote: post #22
Luc wrote: post #14

You can use a 9V battery powered amplifier with a loop around your neck to make a tiny permanent magnet placed in your ear canal vibrate against your ear drum. It doesn't generate hi-fi sound, but speech is remarkably clear. Great for magic tricks. Or cheating at exams I suppose.

Has this actually been done before? It sounds fascinating. I have seen accounts of people embedding tiny magnets in their hands but not their ears.

Not embedded, just dropped into your ear canal.

I bought it maybe 15 years ago on eBay, so it's nothing new.

Re: Anyone have experiences with Audio Induction Loops?

#27

Post by bigfudge »

sh4rkb0y wrote: post #21
dmi wrote: post #5

Hearing aids are at a frustrating crossroads at the moment, IMO. In my experience, a lot of the recent hearing aids don't seem to support induction loops. It often seems to be a choice between that or Bluetooth... and Auracast isn't ready yet. I've had Phonak bilateral hearing aids for 5 years, and Starkey unilateral for ~5 years before that. None of those have supported induction loops.

At the same time, those that have hearing aids often complain that T-coils aren't properly set up or turned on, even in public building where they are required to (at least in Norway). "Yes, we have T-coils, but the person responsible for it isn't here right now, and no one here knows how to use it." So, still quite a few limited factors to their actual usefulness in society unfortunately.

A friend who installs loops complains they are largely pointless, because in practice nobody with a hearing aid ever wants to use them. Apparently the quality of a good hearing aid magnifying the audio in the room is substantially better than an induction loop.

Re: Anyone have experiences with Audio Induction Loops?

#28

Post by EvanAnderson »

Luc wrote: post #14

You can use a 9V battery powered amplifier with a loop around your neck to make a tiny permanent magnet placed in your ear canal vibrate against your ear drum. It doesn't generate hi-fi sound, but speech is remarkably clear. Great for magic tricks. Or cheating at exams I suppose.

That's really cool, but the idea of sticking a magnet inside my ear gives me the willies. >shudder<

Re: Anyone have experiences with Audio Induction Loops?

#29

Post by superxpro12 »

Luc wrote: post #14

You can use a 9V battery powered amplifier with a loop around your neck to make a tiny permanent magnet placed in your ear canal vibrate against your ear drum. It doesn't generate hi-fi sound, but speech is remarkably clear. Great for magic tricks. Or cheating at exams I suppose.

I think the copper ring around your neck a.la Will Smith in Wild Wild West may clue in the test proctor to some suspicious activities

Re: Anyone have experiences with Audio Induction Loops?

#30

Post by larsmaxfield »

bigfudge wrote: post #27
sh4rkb0y wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the same time, those that have hearing aids often complain that T-coils aren't properly set up or turned on, even in public building where they are required to (at least in Norway). "Yes, we have T-coils, but the person responsible for it isn't here right now, and no one here knows how to use it." So, still quite a few limited factors to their actual usefulness in society unfortunately.

A friend who installs loops complains they are largely pointless, because in practice nobody with a hearing aid ever wants to use them. Apparently the quality of a good hearing aid magnifying the audio in the room is substantially better than an induction loop.

No hearing aid magnification comes close if the induction loop is properly installed and integrated with the PA system. With an induction loop it's as if the microphone is directly connected to the hearing aid.
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