New TV Hearing Loop Offers Personal Entertainment For Residents with Hearing Loss
Residents who struggle to hear can enjoy in-room entertainment, in clarity and without disturbing their neighbours, thanks to a new ‘home’ hearing loop.
An estimated 75 % of care home residents have a degree of hearing loss. The HLD4 from Contacta amplifies programmes from the television or music from a sound system meaning residents don’t have to turn the volume up to unacceptable levels.
The HLD4 hearing loop driver is a sleek, compact unit that sits easily alongside a TV. It sends an audio signal directly to a resident’s hearing aid via a loop pad placed underneath their seat cushion. It cuts out background noise allowing them to enjoy high quality, clear sound at their preferred volume and tone settings.
Residents who don’t use hearing aids but who could still benefit from the HLD4 can tap into the sound using Contacta’s newly launched RX-30 hearing loop listener, a rechargeable unit used with headphones.
“Communal living can be challenging when people have hearing loss and the HLD4 is a perfect solution,” said Shelley Rolfe, Head of UK Sales at Contacta.
“It is an attractive addition to a resident’s room and gives staff peace of mind that residents can enjoy their favourite programmes, music or audio books without causing a disturbance to their neighbours.”
The HLD4 can also be used with a room loop – cabling discreetly laid just beneath the carpet edge or along the top of skirting board – allowing residents to get the same sound quality no matter where in the room they sit.
Straight-forward to install, the unit memorises the user’s personal sound settings and even has an optional external microphone that will amplify voices of other people in the room, a phone ringing or a doorbell.
“Having these units could be a great selling point for care homes,” added Shelley. “Being unable to hear clearly can be very frustrating but the HLD4 gives residents comfortable, independent listening. Our installation team of trained engineers can install any number of these units and can provide a regular maintenance programme to make sure these, and other hearing loops homes may have installed, work as they should at all times.”
