Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Usage of inductive loops for hearing impaired

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Posted by Harold Hallikainen (Member # 5405) on 06-19-2015, 06:47 PM:

I'm talking with a theater owner who has received a complaint that the theater does not have an inductive loop to drive the T-coil in the patron's hearing aid. The patron does not want to have to use anything (like a neck loop or headphones over the hearing aid). Can anyone estimate the percentage of theaters using inductive loops? I believe it is higher in Europe, but I'd like estimates for various parts of the world, especially the US.

Thanks!

Harold

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 06-19-2015, 07:01 PM:

I have one at my theatre. But in nearly 20 years of working in movie theatres, I have never had a single customer ask to use one. We have customers using the descriptive audio and closed captioning every week, and we have people using the regular assistive listening devices almost every day.

Posted by Harold Hallikainen (Member # 5405) on 06-19-2015, 07:03 PM:

Thanks for the response! Is that a room loop that is always active, or is it a neck loop that someone has to request?

Thanks!

Harold

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 06-19-2015, 07:13 PM:

There was a guy wandering around the wine country installing a long loop of wire around the cinema and back to a rack mounted box that drove it for free. I think the idea was some sort of a promotion It all went quiet. after a while.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 06-19-2015, 08:17 PM:

The ones we have plug in to a portable Phonic Ear unit - about the same size as a pocket transistor radio. The Phonic Ear system was our old ALD system where each auditorium had a different radio frequency. The inductive loop just plugs into the headphone jack. I honestly don't know if it's supposed to be worn around the neck, or just kept close to the hearing aid.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 06-19-2015, 10:34 PM:

We have one. It's about double the size of a USB drive with a headphone jack and a volume control. You plug a loop of wire into the headphone jack and wear it around your neck. It receives signal through the assistive listening system just the same as headphones.

I don't see why it couldn't be merely kept near the user but I have never tried it that way.

If you already have assitive listening in your theater, you can probably pick up a neck loop for the units you might already have for about $50. Assuming your existing ALDs have headphone jacks, that's all you need to do. If you don't have ALDs with jacks, you'll need to pick up one of those, too.

Assuming you already have an ALD system, the whole thing shouldn't cost more than a couple hundred, max.

Posted by Harold Hallikainen (Member # 5405) on 06-19-2015, 10:41 PM:

The original patron does not want a neck loop or anything that identifies her as hard of hearing. She wants a room loop. How many theaters have room loops?

Thanks!

Harold

Posted by Stephan Shelley (Member # 8587) on 06-19-2015, 10:50 PM:

I know of two with room loops. Both single screens. One in St Helena CA and the other in Sonoma CA.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 06-20-2015, 02:54 AM:

Uh... The room is dark... and the thing is only a little bigger than my thumb. Other people would have a hard time to see it if they were looking right at it.

Maybe we should all hand out Prozac, instead?

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 06-20-2015, 10:08 AM:

I think the idea of the room loops is the customers own hearing aids pick up the signal so no other hardware is needed.

Posted by Harold Hallikainen (Member # 5405) on 06-20-2015, 11:16 AM:

Yes, that's the idea. The customer's hearing aid picks up the magnetic field from the room loop. Many (most?) hearing aids have and automatic T-coil switch that switches the input from the microphone to the T-coil in the presence of a DC magnetic field, like that generated by the permanent magnet in a telephone (for which the T-coil was designed) and headphones. With a room loop, there is no DC field, so people have to figure out how to manually switch it. I'm interested in knowing how many cinema auditoriums have these loops. I believe they are more costly than IR/RF transmitters and receivers, may suffer from interference between auditoriums, may pick up AC hum, only carry one channel (no VI), etc. These issues tend to discourage their installation. But, how many are installed? 1% of theaters worldwide and .05% US? What would be good numbers? So far we know of two installations in the US.

Thanks!

Harold

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 06-20-2015, 12:29 PM:

They are definitely "preferred" by those that have a T-Coil setting on their hearing aid. However, the number of places that actually have loops is pretty small...particularly in actual cinemas. The cost of putting one in is relatively high other devices can deliver the equivalent. Not wanting to deal with a neckloop shouldn't be sufficient a reason to put on in.

I've seen two types of loops. One uses ordinary "Rotor Cable" (flat) and it run around the room. You then "series" the conductors such that you effectively have several "coils" of the loop. If you are within the loop, you pick up the audio. The other kind imbeds the audio in the floor around the seating area (or on the surface via flat wire).

You present those options versus an RF or IR system to an exhibitor and it is a non-starter. The IR/RF systems are FAR cheaper and easier to maintain if there is a problem.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/K94bzXFHlSE?rel=0

Given the choice...Hearing Aid people want loops and those that need captions want open-caption all of the time.

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 06-20-2015, 01:17 PM:

I did not know it was so complex to install, thanks Steve.

They need a bigger soldering iron though [Smile]