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Equipment
• Alerting Equipment • Radio Hearing Aids • Audio Equipment
Alerting devices can be used by deaf people to alert them to a whole variety of things going on in the home or work environment. Most of these devices use vibrations or flashing lights or a combination of both to alert the deaf person.
The alerting systems may be fixed in one particular location such as a smoke alarm or a doorbell alerter or may be portable and able to be moved around according to need.
They can be used with:
Alarm clocks
Door bells
Fire / smoke alarms
Telephones
Burglar alarms
Baby alarms
Personal alerter
This equipment can be bought privately. It may also be available from local Social Services Departments (Sensory Loss Teams) subject to an assessment of needs.
Some systems can be fully integrated into a complete package that includes a pager with different coloured lights and symbols to indicate which part of the system has been activated. For example if the doorbell rings the pager will vibrate and a small LED light next to a ‘door’ symbol will glow. This type of system is fully mobile as the deaf person carries the pager unit wherever they are in the home or workplace.
Some examples are shown:
Vibrating alarm clock – can also be part of a pager system that can include other sensors such as a smoke alarm, baby monitor, doorbell, telephone etc.
Smoke alarm
Portable Vibrating Alarm Clock
Flashing telephone alerters
Pager Receiving Unit
This is a pager receiving unit which can alert the user to which part of the system has been activated – smoke alarm, baby alarm, doorbell, telephone etc. The pager can be carried around the home or workplace. It will vibrate and a light will come on next to the appropriate symbol. For example if someone presses the doorbell then the pager will vibrate and a light will glow next to the door symbol on the pager:
The alerting systems may be fixed in one particular location such as a smoke alarm or a doorbell alerter or may be portable and able to be moved around according to need.
They can be used with:
Alarm clocks
Door bells
Fire / smoke alarms
Telephones
Burglar alarms
Baby alarms
Personal alerter
This equipment can be bought privately. It may also be available from local Social Services Departments (Sensory Loss Teams) subject to an assessment of needs.
Some systems can be fully integrated into a complete package that includes a pager with different coloured lights and symbols to indicate which part of the system has been activated. For example if the doorbell rings the pager will vibrate and a small LED light next to a ‘door’ symbol will glow. This type of system is fully mobile as the deaf person carries the pager unit wherever they are in the home or workplace.
Some examples are shown:
Vibrating alarm clock – can also be part of a pager system that can include other sensors such as a smoke alarm, baby monitor, doorbell, telephone etc.
Smoke alarm
Portable Vibrating Alarm Clock
Flashing telephone alerters
Pager Receiving Unit
This is a pager receiving unit which can alert the user to which part of the system has been activated – smoke alarm, baby alarm, doorbell, telephone etc. The pager can be carried around the home or workplace. It will vibrate and a light will come on next to the appropriate symbol. For example if someone presses the doorbell then the pager will vibrate and a light will glow next to the door symbol on the pager:
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Radio Hearing aids
Why do children need a radio hearing aid?
Children who use hearing aids find it difficult to listen in some situations. The three main situations are when:
- The pupil is sitting at a distance from the person who is speaking
- There is unwanted background noise.
- There are poor acoustics in the room which makes understanding speech more difficult.
What is a radio hearing aid?
A radio hearing aid is designed to let child concentrate on one speaker. The teacher wears a transmitter, which sends the sound directly to the child's receiver. The receiver is connected to the child's hearing aids. The teacher will sound as though he or she is standing directly in front of child. However, the child will need to hear its own voice and the voice of other children working in the same group. So the radio hearing aid is programmed so that the child can hear these sounds as well.
Who provides the radio aid?
The teacher of the Deaf working with the student will assess whether a radio aid would be useful. There is a written policy on providing radio aids and the Head of Service will consider the facts before making any decision. The Local Authority is responsible for providing radio hearing aids.
Other Professionals
The Audiology Department at the hospital work closely with our Service in order to set up the hearing aids so that they work well with the radio hearing aids.
The Teacher of the Deaf will train staff in schools to ensure that they are able to use the radio hearing aid efficiently and carry out daily listening checks. The specialist teachers will also check that the system works correctly by listening to it through a stetoclip and also by runing the aids through a test box.
Quality Standards
There are national guidelines setting out good practice for dealing with radio aids and our Service makes every effort to comply with these standards. Our teachers and technician are very committed to consistent radio hearing aid usage and we respond to any problem as quickly as possible. The aim is to provide deaf children with a better listening experience by reducing background noise, and improving the sound consistency and clarity.
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Listening to music, computer, TVs and much more!
Hearing Aid users
Many people who use hearing aids feel that they aren't able to listen to music and maintain a good sound quality. But there is good news because most BTE digital hearing aids now have a direct audio input facility, which means that they can connect to most audio equipment.
However, the hearing aids have to be programmed at the hospital so that this direct input facility, (DAI) is switched on. You will need to check with your audiologist to see if this is the case.
Then, you need an audio shoe, which will fit onto the bottom of your hearing aid. There are various models, made to fit different hearing aids, but they all have a standard three-pin socket to connect to an audio lead.
The audio lead can be a single lead for use with one aid, or stereo for people with two aids. The audio lead will connect to any listening equipment with a 3.5mm headphone socket but if you want to connect to a larger socket, you will need a conversion kit.
The leads can connect to any equipment with a headphone socket such as:
Radio hearing Aid users
Some deaf children who use personal hearing aids still have problems listening in a busy classroom, because of background noise, reverberation and sitting at the distance from the teacher. They may need to use a radio hearing aid to help them listen more effectively. The radio hearing aid works by making the teacher's voice sound clearer against unwanted background noise.
The transmitter of the radio hearing aid has an auxiliary input socket, which connects to a range of electrical equipment, such as a television, personal compuiter or laptop, or electronic keyboard. Our Service can provide connecting leads for electronic equipment for educational use in schools.
Please contact the Hearing Impaired Service Technician, Kelvin Coverdale for further advice and support.
Many people who use hearing aids feel that they aren't able to listen to music and maintain a good sound quality. But there is good news because most BTE digital hearing aids now have a direct audio input facility, which means that they can connect to most audio equipment.
However, the hearing aids have to be programmed at the hospital so that this direct input facility, (DAI) is switched on. You will need to check with your audiologist to see if this is the case.
Then, you need an audio shoe, which will fit onto the bottom of your hearing aid. There are various models, made to fit different hearing aids, but they all have a standard three-pin socket to connect to an audio lead.
The audio lead can be a single lead for use with one aid, or stereo for people with two aids. The audio lead will connect to any listening equipment with a 3.5mm headphone socket but if you want to connect to a larger socket, you will need a conversion kit.
The leads can connect to any equipment with a headphone socket such as:
- A Television
- A Computer
- An iPod/MP3 player
- An electronic keyboard
- Portable DVD Player
Radio hearing Aid users
Some deaf children who use personal hearing aids still have problems listening in a busy classroom, because of background noise, reverberation and sitting at the distance from the teacher. They may need to use a radio hearing aid to help them listen more effectively. The radio hearing aid works by making the teacher's voice sound clearer against unwanted background noise.
The transmitter of the radio hearing aid has an auxiliary input socket, which connects to a range of electrical equipment, such as a television, personal compuiter or laptop, or electronic keyboard. Our Service can provide connecting leads for electronic equipment for educational use in schools.
Please contact the Hearing Impaired Service Technician, Kelvin Coverdale for further advice and support.
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