On Sep 5, 2022, at 12:12 PM, Stephen O. Frazier <hlaanm@...> wrote:

Hi Ginevra - You're absolutely right in your assessment that hearing care providers are a big roadblock in raising awareness and availability of telecoils and loops.  In my opinion they are the biggest one and I don't see that the situation has improved much over the last 20 years.

 

Here's a quote from a 2002 article in Hearing Review:

 

"Unfortunately, a recent survey showed that less than 50% of all hearing aid dispensers even mentioned the possibility of a telecoil to their clients. Dispensers cannot, of course, require that their clients include a telecoil in their hearing aids, but people can be given enough information so that they can make an informed choice. Many people would be more than willing to accept the need for a slightly larger hearing aid if the potential benefits of a telecoil were explained to them."

 

I believe that, since the advent of Bluetooth the percentage could even be smaller and, in reaction to looping advocacy, some providers go a step further and try to discourage clients from having the technology included in their HAs. 

 

They're often ignored and violated but state regulations mandating telecoil counseling prior to the dispensing of hearing aids help.  Only a handful of states have such regulations - many as a result of HLAA chapter advocacy - and that's what's needed elsewhere to overcome what is sometimes the outright refusal of some providers to provide such counseling. 

 

Members of this and other HLAA lists and their local chapters are the logical leaders of such efforts in any state that does not have such a requirement.  I believe it's way past time for HLAA chapters to step up and take action on this issue as we did here in NM and others have done in IN,UT, RI, DE etc.

 

Stephen O. Frazier, Hearing Loss Support Specialist

 

   

                 

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---------- Original Message ----------
From: "Ginevra Ralph" <GRalph@...>
To: HLAAGITHL@...
Subject: Re: [HLAAGITHL] HLAA Not Promoting Telecoil & Hearing Loops #Advocacy #GITHL-Toolkit #hearingloop
Date: Mon, 05 Sep 2022 08:03:28 -0700

Clearly one roadblock continues to be hearing specialists – maybe we could picket their conventions…

Seriously though, do you have a relationship with your own provider that you could ask some probing questions such as these:

• ·        Do you tell all your clients about telecoils?
• ·        Do you include telecoil as a default in new devices or does the client have to request it?
• ·        Do they need to request Bluetooth or is it automatic?
• ·        How many looped sites in our area would it take for our local specialists to stop saying “nothing’s looped”?
• ·        When do you activate a telecoil in a new pair of hearing aids and do you teach the client how to use it in a looped exam space? [We have had customers show up with telecoils but they can’t use the program!!]

If everyone in a chapter asked their provider questions like this, it can provide both some local advocacy strategies and collective ones if you share the answers with all of us on your websites. [Do you suppose the answers swould be different in the UK compared to the US!?!]

--
Ginevra Ralph
The Shedd Institute, Eugene OR

Clearly one roadblock continues to be hearing specialists – maybe we could picket their conventions…

Seriously though, do you have a relationship with your own provider that you could ask some probing questions such as these:

• ·        Do you tell all your clients about telecoils?
• ·        Do you include telecoil as a default in new devices or does the client have to request it?
• ·        Do they need to request Bluetooth or is it automatic?
• ·        How many looped sites in our area would it take for our local specialists to stop saying “nothing’s looped”?
• ·        When do you activate a telecoil in a new pair of hearing aids and do you teach the client how to use it in a looped exam space? [We have had customers show up with telecoils but they can’t use the program!!]

If everyone in a chapter asked their provider questions like this, it can provide both some local advocacy strategies and collective ones if you share the answers with all of us on your websites. [Do you suppose the answers swould be different in the UK compared to the US!?!]

--
Ginevra Ralph
The Shedd Institute, Eugene OR

On Aug 6, 2022, at 11:45 AM, Carol in Boston <carolagate34@...> wrote:

I just want to point out that preferences probably depend on the quality. ASR got a bad name because it was so often wrong. It has improved enormously. If anyone uses ASR with their Innocaption app you know how good it can be. CART is only as good as the provider, but it can never be as fast. The variation among CART providers varies just as the variation among ASR providers vary. But if you use a good ASR provider you know what you are getting. If you know your CART provider, you also so. But in most situations you ask for CART and have no way of knowing how good the provider will be.

So ASR is less of a gamble and it has the plus of speed. 

On Aug 6, 2022, at 11:32 AM, Alan Katsura, Moderator, CA Diablo Valley Chapter <akatsura@...> wrote:

After seeing Ed's post, I think I understand what "final-version" captioning is. It is verbatim but in small phrases. I can see where it may be more accurate and possibly easier to read since there is less likelihood of having to reread the captioner's corrections. Since normally there is a latency between the speaker/video and captions, accuracy is more important than speed.
--
Alan Katsura
akatsura@...
Moderator HLAA Tech Group

On Aug 6, 2022, at 11:32 AM, Alan Katsura, Moderator, CA Diablo Valley Chapter <akatsura@...> wrote:

After seeing Ed's post, I think I understand what "final-version" captioning is. It is verbatim but in small phrases. I can see where it may be more accurate and possibly easier to read since there is less likelihood of having to reread the captioner's corrections. Since normally there is a latency between the speaker/video and captions, accuracy is more important than speed.
--
Alan Katsura
akatsura@...
Moderator HLAA Tech Group

On Fri, Aug 5, 2022 at 1:07 PM, Carol in Boston

<carolagate34@...> wrote:

I prefer real time. I can hear, but miss a lot of words or phrases. Unless the captions are as close to the spoken word as possible they do me no good. The ASR has improved greatly during this past year, so accuracy hasn’t been a problem. Delay is always a problem.

Thanks for asking.

Carol 

On Aug 5, 2022, at 3:59 PM, Sara Oser, President, HLAA North Bay of California via hlaagroups.hearingloss.org <saraoser=aol.com@...> wrote:

I received this question from a group setting up a virtual platform to offer courses:

 I would love to ask your opinion about our online platform development. 

 

We are about to implement captioning and the developers have given us two options:

‘Real-time’ captions, which show each word as it’s spoken, or

‘Final version’ captions, which compose a phrase or sentence after the person pauses. It’s more accurate apparently. 

 

What would you recommend? 

Thank you,
Sara Oser

On Aug 5, 2022, at 4:07 PM, Carol in Boston <carolagate34@...> wrote:

I prefer real time. I can hear, but miss a lot of words or phrases. Unless the captions are as close to the spoken word as possible they do me no good. The ASR has improved greatly during this past year, so accuracy hasn’t been a problem. Delay is always a problem.

Thanks for asking.

Carol 

On Aug 5, 2022, at 3:59 PM, Sara Oser, President, HLAA North Bay of California via hlaagroups.hearingloss.org <saraoser=aol.com@...> wrote:

I received this question from a group setting up a virtual platform to offer courses:

 I would love to ask your opinion about our online platform development. 

 

We are about to implement captioning and the developers have given us two options:

‘Real-time’ captions, which show each word as it’s spoken, or

‘Final version’ captions, which compose a phrase or sentence after the person pauses. It’s more accurate apparently. 

 

What would you recommend? 

Thank you,
Sara Oser

On Aug 5, 2022, at 3:59 PM, Sara Oser, President, HLAA North Bay of California via hlaagroups.hearingloss.org <saraoser=aol.com@...> wrote:

I received this question from a group setting up a virtual platform to offer courses:

 I would love to ask your opinion about our online platform development. 

 

We are about to implement captioning and the developers have given us two options:

‘Real-time’ captions, which show each word as it’s spoken, or

‘Final version’ captions, which compose a phrase or sentence after the person pauses. It’s more accurate apparently. 

 

What would you recommend? 

Thank you,
Sara Oser