Carolina Hearing Doctors provides a wide selection of assistive listening devices in North Carolina.

There’s more to hearing solutions than just hearing aids. Carolina Hearing Doctors offers many different assistive listening devices in North Carolina. Our audiologists are happy to help you find the best options to make sure your hearing aids work their best.

Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) are important tools for people with hearing loss. These devices do more than regular hearing aids and provide smart solutions to different hearing problems you might face every day.

ALDs can help make sounds louder in noisy places and make it easier to talk to people who are far away. They help meet different needs and make life better for those with hearing loss.

Assistive Listening Devices VS Hearing Aids

Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) and hearing aids are both important for people with hearing loss, but they do different things and have unique features.

Knowing the differences between ALDs and hearing aids can help people choose the best option for their needs.

Types of Assistive Listening Devices

Assistive listening devices (ALDs) are special tools that help people with hearing problems hear better. These devices come in different types, each made to solve specific hearing issues.

By making sounds louder and cutting down background noise, assistive listening devices help people participate more in conversations, activities, and events.

Hearing Aids:

  • What Are They? Hearing aids are small devices that you wear in or behind your ear. They make sounds louder so you can hear better.
  • Who Needs Them? People who have trouble hearing most of the time use hearing aids. They help with every day sounds like talking and watching TV.
  • How Do They Work? Hearing aids have a microphone to pick up sounds, an amplifier to make the sounds louder, and a speaker to send the sounds into your ear.

Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs):

  • What Are They? ALDs are tools that help you hear better in specific situations. They are not worn all the time like hearing aids.
  • Who Needs Them? People who might need extra help hearing in places like theaters, classrooms, or meetings use ALDs.
  • How Do They Work? ALDs can be things like microphones, headphones, or special systems that connect to your phone or TV. They bring the sound directly to you, making it clearer.

Main Differences:

  1. Usage: Hearing aids are for everyday use; ALDs are for special situations.
  2. Function: Hearing aids amplify all sounds around you. ALDs make specific sounds clearer, like a person talking in a noisy room.
  3. Wearability: Hearing aids are small and worn in or behind the ear. ALDs can be different devices you use when needed.

Types of Assistive Listening Devices

Bluetooth-enabled devices

Bluetooth-enabled assistive listening devices help people hear better. They use Bluetooth technology, which can connect to things like phones, TVs, or computers. This helps sounds from these devices go directly into your ears, making them clearer and louder. People who have trouble hearing can use these devices to enjoy conversations, music, and shows more easily. They are easy to use and can make everyday sounds much better for people with hearing difficulties.

Loop systems help people with hearing aids or cochlear implants hear better. These systems send sound through a special magnetic field to hearing aids that have T-coils. You can find loop systems in theaters, concert halls, and churches. To use them, people just switch their hearing aids to T-coil mode.

Loop systems make sounds clear and reduce background noise. This makes them perfect for big groups or noisy places.

Infrared systems use special light to send sound signals to receivers that people wear. These systems work best when the receiver can see the transmitter. They are often used in places where privacy is very important, like courtrooms or medical facilities, because the infrared signal cannot go through walls or barriers.

Infrared systems are great for giving clear and high-quality sound with very little interruption from other sources.

FM systems include a transmitter microphone that the speaker wears and a receiver that the listener wears. The microphone picks up the speaker’s voice and sends it wirelessly to the receiver. The receiver then makes the sound louder directly into the listener’s ears.

FM systems are helpful in noisy places or when the speaker is far away from the listener, like in classrooms or lecture halls.

Personal amplifiers are small devices that make sounds louder and send them directly to the user’s ears using headphones or earbuds.

These amplifiers are great for talking to someone face-to-face or in situations where the speaker is nearby but not loud enough for the user to hear clearly.

Assistive Listening Devices FAQs

What is the most commonly used assistive listening device?

FM systems are one of the most used tools to help people hear better. They are are often used in schools, like in classrooms and lecture halls, to make sure people with hearing problems can hear clearly, even with background noise or when the speaker is far away. FM systems are also popular in other places like conferences and public events because they work well and can be used in many different situations.

Assistive listening devices are important for helping people with hearing loss communicate better. They make speech clearer, cut down on background noise, and help people hear even when they are far away. These devices make it easier for people to join conversations, take part in activities, and get important information. Assistive listening devices help people feel included, be more independent, and improve their quality of life.

Assistive listening devices (ALDs) help improve hearing in certain situations but don’t take the place of hearing aids. ALDs can make it easier to hear in noisy places or understand speech better. On the other hand, hearing aids are used for overall hearing loss by making sounds louder in different settings. People often use ALDs along with hearing aids to get extra help when needed, making sure they can hear well in various places and activities.

Assistive Listening Devices in North Carolina

Assistive listening devices help people with hearing loss hear better and communicate more easily.

To learn more about these devices, talk to an audiologist! Our licensed audiologists at Carolina Hearing Doctors can explain the different ALD options and hearing aids available in North Carolina.

Contact us today to schedule an appointment at either of our clinics located in Winston-Salem and Clemmons, NC.