Assistive Listening Devices

[eeyore45]

I wonder if the moderators would consider adding this to the top, as a sticky.. there is a lot of good information, and so many people look thru a thread without posting...

 

[eeyore45]

bumping for someone needing the information!!

 

[SueM in MN]

I wonder if the moderators would consider adding this to the top, as a sticky.. there is a lot of good information, and so many people look thru a thread without posting...

I very good idea. When I have some time this summer (after my DD gets a Personal Care Attendant), I want to work on some stickies with different subjects - sort of like the current disABILITIES FAQs.

 

[faeflora]

Just to add another hard of hearing opinion. I have never been able to use ALD's with my hearing loss. If you amplify the sound it only makes it worse. I have interpreters in all of my classes and they are also all trained to repeat every word the professors says so that I can use lipreading to back up what I am getting auditorially and through sign language. Sign has been a life saver in situations like conferences and at WDW.


Also, thanks again Talking Hands for all the information you so freely share and for getting me in touch with Mark Jones. He's a really nice CM.

 

[Talking Hands]

So they are transliterating for you rather than interpreting.
The difference is transliterating is taking oral language and changing it to signs while maintaining the oral language word order and mouthing the oral language as well

Interpreting is changing oral language to sign language using the grammar and syntax of the signed language and using only very little mouthing of words but using non-manual markers associated with the signed language.

 

[faeflora]

Talking Hands-you are so totally correct. They do not use the sign equivalent of "they", "and", "are", like what you would find with Signed English but they do not use the syntax of ASL either. It's interesting because I take all of my own class notes and am typing them into my laptop at about a second behind the information that is being given to me. All the professors get so focused on my situation that often they just stop teaching to watch what is going on. Very funny

 

[eeyore45]

Hope this helps someone, I see it has a lil over 400 looks...

 

[eeyore45]

Guess who again?

Just call me a Mama Bear!!

 

[Talking Hands]

bringing back up for those who need it.

 

[briand1023]

Hi,

Very informative postings. My dd, 6, has Auditory Dys-synchrony. She uses an FM system with Phonak HA's. To enable her to watch TV at home, we plug the FM unit into the Stereo so she can hear movies/TV. The FM unit has a 1/8" plug on the end that we convert into the 1/2" plug on the stereo system. Does anyone know if the 1/4" plug on the FM system will plug into the ALD unit(the walkman style device I saw a few pictures of)? Basically what size plug does the headset for the ALD have, and is the ALD headset a standard walkman style headset? We will be going down for the 1st week in October so I want to get everything in order so we will have a fun trip.

Thanks - Brian

 

[Talking Hands]

Hi,
Very informative postings. My dd, 6, has Auditory Dys-synchrony. She uses an FM system with Phonak HA's. To enable her to watch TV at home, we plug the FM unit into the Stereo so she can hear movies/TV. The FM unit has a 1/8" plug on the end that we convert into the 1/2" plug on the stereo system. Does anyone know if the 1/4" plug on the FM system will plug into the ALD unit(the walkman style device I saw a few pictures of)? Basically what size plug does the headset for the ALD have, and is the ALD headset a standard walkman style headset? We will be going down for the 1st week in October so I want to get everything in order so we will have a fun trip.
Thanks - Brian

Brian it is the smaller plug that you find on most Walkman headsets. The ALD headset is the standard headset that goes over the ears and not earbuds. I cannot use it myself so bring a headset that I can use and it works fine with it. Can't use earbuds at all unless they are specially made by my audie because of the small size of my ear canal.

 

[eeyore45]

Just want to move this to the front of the pack...

 

[eeyore45]

Just want to move this to the front of the pack...

 

[eeyore45]

there are good links in this thread.

 

[pxlbarrel]

Brian it is the smaller plug that you find on most Walkman headsets. The ALD headset is the standard headset that goes over the ears and not earbuds. I cannot use it myself so bring a headset that I can use and it works fine with it. Can't use earbuds at all unless they are specially made by my audie because of the small size of my ear canal.

Forgive me for my ignorance but does that mean that the FM unit will fit into the ALD. My dad uses one to watch television and it seems to be the only part of his hearing aid that actually works. I'm not familiar with the size of plugs.

But...earlier somebody mentioned that the ALDs were pratically useless. Is it even worth getting it for my dad? We used the captioning the last time we were there but you miss a lot when you have to concentrate on reading (the Little Mermaid show was probably a washout for him). We tried the captioning at the Muppet 3D too but again, you miss a lot of stuff that's happening in front of you.

I'd really love it if he could enjoy WDW as much as we did. (I think he enjoys being there with us and being on vacation but the experience would be so much better if he could understand what was going on at some of the attractions.)

By the way, this is one of the best threads I've read on this board. Extremely helpful and informative.

 

[amylucinda]

Brian,

(sorry for jumping back into the thread, but I did want to share....)

I don't believe you'll be able to use your FM system. I'm gonna take a stab at this, and hope that someone corrects me if I'm wrong. We also use Phonak's system...well, we would if it worked well for us, but that's another story!

Your daughter's boots are receivers, and require an FM signal to be transmitted to them. Disney doesn't broadcast an FM signal that her boots will receive. You'd have to take your transmitter and hook it directly into whatever sound system Disney is using....just like you do at home...you hook the transmitter into your stereo and it transmits FM signals to your daughter's receivers.

The ALDs that Disney provides are also receivers, for the signal that Disney does provide...either infrared or maybe induction (I can't remember for sure.) I don't think they will transmit an FM signal, so hooking your transmitter into them won't get you an FM signal to transmit to your daughter. (OK...I'm rereading this, and now I'm thinking, "Why not?" It's just sound, right? Hmmm...) The plugs you see are most likely either for physical headsets or for telecoil loops. I'm pretty sure the only way for the Disney ALDs to get sound to your daughter is either with a physical headset over her ears or with a loop around her neck, transmitting to her hearing aid's telecoil.

Your best bet is to try to use the telecoil in your daughter's aids, if she has one, but our experience, as noted above, was very poor with all the different ALDs that Disney had to offer. I tried, like you, to make arrangements ahead of time, unsuccessfully.

I hate being a "complainer", (I mean, really, it's Disney...who in their right mind can complain???) but I wish I had known ahead of time how unlikely it was that we would have success, based both on our experiences and the responses from the Guest Services CMs. I think I wouldn't have been nearly so frustrated, nor would I have wasted so much time trying to get a working set-up.

For adults who can read and those who can sign, it seems that services are at least adequate and most likely better than that. For pre- and early-reading children who use hearing aids and who do not sign fluently, access to speech and story lines can be very limited.

If you do plan on using their devices, be sure to take a stethoset or some type of testing device so you can hear for yourself what is happening. Had I used their devices without checking it out myself, my daughter would've been listening to nothing but telecoil buzz!

The other thing I would suggest is working with your audiologist or Phonak directly to ask if a public infrared receiver with a plug can send a signal to your FM transmitter to be received by your daughter's boots. I am certainly no expert, and have failed miserably at all attempts to use anything beyond my daughter's hearing aids! Verifying with Phonak themselves is the best thing you can do ahead of time.

Good luck, and be sure to come back with a report. As more and more hearing impaired children are identified at an earlier age, it will be interesting to see if changes are made in services available for them at the Happiest Place on Earth!

Amy

 

[amylucinda]

Oh, and one more thing to do, in case you do end up relying solely on their devices:

Work with your audiologist to be sure the telecoil is actually working!

Amy

 

[Talking Hands]

Brian and Amy see your private messages

 

[pxlbarrel]

hmmm...ok, admittedly I'm not entirely sure how the Phonak FM units work but why wouldn't it work if the transmitter is plugged into the ALD. Doesn't IT send the FM signal to the boot? I plugged it into IPOD and my dad could hear the music (although it was a bit low in volume). He's also plugged it into the sound card of his computer so he could watch a dvd. The television doesn't transmit in FM, the little FM transmitter we plug into the earplug outlet does the transmitting.

His hearing loss is profound (he woke up one day, many years ago, deaf but managed to regain a tiny bit of hearing in one ear over the course of 6 months) he seems to be able to watch TV with no problems at all so the FM unit seems to work amazingly (except with phones...it won't work with phones...so if anybody has a solution for phones, please tell me!!) Actually, forgive me if I stray off topic...he's due to get a replacement hearing air next year so if anybody has recommendations, let me know.

Now, the ALDs working at WDW...that's another thing.

 

[pxlbarrel]

bumpety bump bump