HEARING AIDS

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31145, 23 August 1966, Page 13

HEARING AIDS

Need In Public Places “There is an urgent necessity for equipping public places with the latest hearing equipment,’* said Mrs L. S. Birdling, a teacher at the Christchurch branch of the New Zealand League for the Hard of Hearing. “At present only two theatres and a few churches in Christchurch provide suitable equipment for the hard of hearing,” she said. “It is an amazingly small proportion when you consider that one out of every 20 New Zealanders needs help for some form of hearing disability.” Mrs Birdling said one of the most successful types of hearing devices used in public places was commonly called, the loop. This consisted of a magnetic loop, placed round the room, which was fed in an amplifier. The sound was then picked up by the hard of hearing person on his own individual hearing aid. One of the main advantages of this system was, that it was inconspicuous, and caused practically no embarrassment to the person using it. “It can be very inconvenient and disturbing at times to a hard of hearing person who has to use specially wired seats with telephone type hearing aids,” she said. Mrs Birdling said she hoped to see every church, theatre and public hall equipped with the loop, or some other efficient hearing aid. This would enable people who were hard of hearing to attend any function, as a normal person.