Now I’d like to share what inspired me to start helping others who face the same hearing challenges I do. As you may recall from earlier pages, my hearing aids are equipped with the T-Coil option. The next challenge was figuring out which venues actually offer a room loop or a lanyard-style radio frequency device that works with T-Coil hearing aids.

My first experience was at the church I attend. The church had listening devices with the “D” ear piece available near the entrance. The bulletin also noted that the facility was equipped for T-Coil hearing aids. With the help of a fellow parishioner, we located the lanyard-style devices in one of the drawers. The first time I used one and switched on my T-Coil setting, the improvement in clarity over the “D” ear piece was remarkable—I was instantly hooked!

Subsequently, working with the parish staff, I held a meeting with others with hearing challenges where I explained in detail how to best use the churches existing equipment with their hearing aids.

Since then, I’ve had several similar experiences at other venues. In many cases, I’ve had to ask staff to check for the T-Coil lanyards that pair with their radio receivers—and sure enough, they usually have them tucked away somewhere.

A particularly memorable example happened at our local movie theater. When I asked about assistive listening devices, a manager told me I was the first person ever to inquire. He went to the supply cabinet and brought one out for me. In the past, they had only offered the “closed caption” device that sits in a cup holder. Those never worked well for me—mainly because shifting my focus back and forth between the device and the screen made me dizzy.