Assistive listening devices, or ALDs, are amplifiers that improve the volume and quality of sounds. These devices deliver clarified audio to your ears and enhance the speech-to-noise ratio, so you don’t have to strain to hear in noisy environments.
ALDs can improve your relationships by helping you stay connected with your loved ones and engaged in social settings. You’ll also feel more comfortable with your surroundings because some ALDs allow wireless connections to compatible technology.
Types of Assistive Listening Devices
TV streamers: TV streamers connect to compatible televisions and stream audio to your hearing aids, allowing you to customize the audio to your desired volume. With a TV streamer, the person with the hearing aids can listen to the television at a completely different volume than the other people in the room. You can also mute the television in the room while still listening at a comfortable volume on your hearing devices.
Remote microphones: These devices are paired with hearing aids and can be worn as a personal microphone to enhance one speaker’s voice or placed on a table to improve ambient audio.
CaptionCall: CaptionCall is a captioned telephone service that comes at no cost to anyone with hearing loss. These phones provide captions in real-time while talking on the phone, so you don’t have to worry about missing a beat during your conversation.
Hearing loops: These ALDs help hearing aid users hear in public places like theaters and performance spaces. Hearing loops use a copper wire placed in a public space to transmit audio as a magnetic field. Hearing aids and cochlear implants must have a telecoil or T-coil to receive audio from hearing loops.
Sound enhancers: Also known as personal sound amplification products (PSAP), sound enhancers are intended for people with normal hearing or mild hearing loss. These devices increase the volume of all ambient sounds, but they are not considered medical devices and are sold over the counter.
Visit Audio Help Hearing Centers
ALDs are very different from the custom hearing aids you’ll find at Audio Help Hearing Centers. Many types of ALDs are available for purchase, but knowing which device is best for your needs can be difficult. While ALDs amplify sounds, finding an overall hearing solution that addresses your type and degree of hearing loss is important.
If you have questions or want to bring your ALDs into Audio Help, we’ll be happy to help you. We will also work with you to find a total hearing solution that includes hearing aids and compatible ALDs.
How Assistive Listening Devices Compare to Hearing Aids
While ALDs help with hearing loss, they do not provide the same comprehensive audio experience that hearing aids deliver. ALDs amplify sound but don’t address other hearing issues, such as tinnitus. ALDs amplify all sounds, and over-the-counter (OTC) hearing devices are considered assistive listening devices. ALDs are not custom to patient-specific hearing loss and only address generalized hearing loss.
Hearing aids are customizable technology that are adjusted to fit your unique type of hearing loss. They’re considered medical devices programmed across multiple pitches and channels that depend on your hearing loss diagnosis. Audio Help Hearing Centers offers custom hearing aids designed to enhance speech understanding, sound clarity, reduce wind noise and address tinnitus symptoms so you can enjoy the sounds around you.
Call 888-832-9966 or contact us online to schedule your appointment. If you have additional questions, check out the FAQs about our devices.