's question - FM and neckloop

[Guest guest]

<<Do you need the neckloop if you have an FM? Or does the neckloop do

something else?>>

The neckloop that Barbara mentioned (and that we have, thanks to her great

advice) feeds to the telecoil in the hearing aid, so the aids need to have that

feature. The FM (the wireless ones) require a receiver " boot " to be connected

to the hearing aid. Both systems do something similar but in different ways,

and each is more appropriate for certain situations.

In our case, we have found that the neckloop works only with some equipment

(i.e. it's great with the CD player but not with the Leappad because the Leappad

" signal " is too weak) and it works in two of our cars but not my husband's new

one. In that car, there is a GPS system and LOTS of computer-related controls

and it causes too much interference for the T-coil. Still, around the house or

in other casual situations, the neckloop is great because can easily

control it himself (i.e. it's off or it's on...LOL!) and it cost under $60 so we

aren't as worried about loss or damage. We've never tried it with a phone

because ours is already T-coil-enabled but I understand it works well in those

situations too.

The FM system transmits on a certain frequency and can feed to boots on a

person's hearing aid. (I only refer to the ones we've used...the Microlink and

now the new Lexis...so I can't knowledgeably discuss the others out there.)

There is a transmitter, usually used by a speaker/teacher/parent which can also

be plugged into electronic equipment. The person wearing aids only needs to

turn on the boot and the sound will come directly into the aid just as any other

sound signals do...with exceptions. The boot has settings which enable the boot

to pick up ONLY the signal coming from the transmitter or to just make that

particular signal louder than the environment. So, in the classroom,

would want to hear the kids around him as well as the teacher and would just

have her voice louder than everything else. When he's watching a movie, he

might choose to cut out surrounding noise altogether. Because the FM operates

on a dedicated frequency (if the FCC hasn't sold it yet, as they were planning

last year), there is rarely interference. FM systems run about $3000 for two

boots and a transmitter, so that is, of course, the biggest difference between

it and the neckloop!

Carol - mom to , 7.8, mod to profound, LVAS

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Carol! I asked this because we DO have the Microlink FM, and I'm

trying to figure out if I need to buy the neckloop too. I haven't looked

into hooking it into the TV yet, because Ben never complains about not being

able to hear it. But I can see future need for this kind of thing!

Stefanie

on 1/1/04 3:01 PM, cbenecke at cbenecke@... wrote:

> <<Do you need the neckloop if you have an FM? Or does the neckloop do

> something else?>>

>

> The neckloop that Barbara mentioned (and that we have, thanks to her great

> advice) feeds to the telecoil in the hearing aid, so the aids need to have

> that feature. The FM (the wireless ones) require a receiver " boot " to be

> connected to the hearing aid. Both systems do something similar but in

> different ways, and each is more appropriate for certain situations.

>

> In our case, we have found that the neckloop works only with some equipment

> (i.e. it's great with the CD player but not with the Leappad because the

> Leappad " signal " is too weak) and it works in two of our cars but not my

> husband's new one. In that car, there is a GPS system and LOTS of

> computer-related controls and it causes too much interference for the T-coil.

> Still, around the house or in other casual situations, the neckloop is great

> because can easily control it himself (i.e. it's off or it's on...LOL!)

> and it cost under $60 so we aren't as worried about loss or damage. We've

> never tried it with a phone because ours is already T-coil-enabled but I

> understand it works well in those situations too.

>

> The FM system transmits on a certain frequency and can feed to boots on a

> person's hearing aid. (I only refer to the ones we've used...the Microlink and

> now the new Lexis...so I can't knowledgeably discuss the others out there.)

> There is a transmitter, usually used by a speaker/teacher/parent which can

> also be plugged into electronic equipment. The person wearing aids only needs

> to turn on the boot and the sound will come directly into the aid just as any

> other sound signals do...with exceptions. The boot has settings which enable

> the boot to pick up ONLY the signal coming from the transmitter or to just

> make that particular signal louder than the environment. So, in the

> classroom, would want to hear the kids around him as well as the teacher

> and would just have her voice louder than everything else. When he's watching

> a movie, he might choose to cut out surrounding noise altogether. Because the

> FM operates on a dedicated frequency (if the FCC hasn't sold it yet, as they

> were planning last year), there is rarely interference. FM systems run about

> $3000 for two boots and a transmitter, so that is, of course, the biggest

> difference between it and the neckloop!

>

> Carol - mom to , 7.8, mod to profound, LVAS

>

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