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Author
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Topic: What is a "loop system" (hearing impaired)?
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David E. Nedrow
Master Film Handler
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Posts: 368
From: Columbus, OH, USA
Registered: Oct 2008
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posted 12-23-2010 11:45 PM
Mike,
When we did our renovations, I installed the induction loop wire around the auditorium before the wall treatments were installed. Of course, I don't have the money yet for the rest of it yet.
The nice thing about an induction loop system is that any hearing aid, or cochlear implant, with a telecoil will be able to receive the audio. They also have induction loop headsets for people without properly equipped hearing aids. That way, you don't have to maintain two systems, once the loop is installed.
They have some information (not technical) at HearingLoop.org.
Look at Vivid Acoustics and Harris Communications for actual systems. You're generally looking at around $1000 for the whole thing, including induction wire.
Here's a good overview at Marc's Technical Pages.
Oh, the drawback to induction loops -- though it doesn't affect single-screeners like us -- is that the sound can "leak" to adjacent auditoriums, assuming those adjacent spaces are also looped. Note also that a hearing aid customer in an adjacent, non-looped room may tune in the looped auditorium audio thinking they are getting the soundtrack for the theatre they are in.
-David
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David E. Nedrow
Master Film Handler
![](/ubbmembers/4981a.jpg)
Posts: 368
From: Columbus, OH, USA
Registered: Oct 2008
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posted 12-24-2010 11:31 AM
quote: Mark H. A local (now closed) 5 screen cinema had plans at the entrance to each screen showing where to sit to get best reception for the induction loop. They may have planned the loops so as to reduce leakage between screens.
They may have been planning on just laying the loop around a small set of centrally located seats. That way, they could direct people to sit in that area, but the coils would be far enough from each other that the leakage wouldn't happen.
I would think that if I were hard of hearing, I'd rather use the loop system, strictly from a hygiene perspective.
Another drawback to coil, in a theatrical sense, is that it's mono only.
We have IR emitters here, but the previous people destroyed most of the needed equipment to drive and use it. They had a roof leak that went unfixed for some time, and, in addition to rotting the masking fabric, it leaked on the transformer/amplifier and ruined it. They also left batteries in all of the headsets, which leaked all over the interior boards in them.
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