Group tries to make Wilmington a better place to hear

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A Wilmington group is on a mission to help out the hearing impaired. The Hearing Loss Association of Wilmington is encouraging public places, including churches and auditoriums, to install induction loop technology. They are systems that let users to flip a switch on their hearing aid to get crystal clear sound.

Millions of Americans wear hearing aids, but in public places it sometimes can be difficult to filter out the background noise. The Hearing Loss Association of Wilmington is aiming to change just that by installing new induction loop technology in places like City Hall.

It all began when Bill Fitzpatrick took a trip to Europe. He found public places using loops to help him hear better.

“The post office, all the churches, every theatre I ever went into had them,” Fitzpatrick said. “The taxi cabs have them. I said, ‘My God. Where is America with all this technology? They’re not here. What’s going on?'”

He realized the technology was here, but wasn’t being used.

“I wanted to get Wilmington to be a leader in the southeast, because nobody else is doing it,” Fitzpatrick said.

An induction loop is a wire is laid around a room then connected to the room’s sound system. It transmits a signal that can be heard by turning on the hearing aid’s T-coil. The result? Crystal clear sound.

“Before that, you get some of it, but you don’t understand it,” Fitzpatrick said. “The clarity is not good, especially a big room, like a church.”

Peggy Carr is president of the Hearing Loss Association of Wilmington.

“I could understand every word that was said through the microphone, no background noise, it’s fabulous, fabulous,” she said.

In Wilmington, the City Council chambers in City Hall are equipped with a loop for meetings and events, and Thalian Hall is jumping on board with individual loops to be worn around your neck, bringing performances to life.

“We think it’s going to be a benefit to everybody,” Tony Rivenbark, Thalian Hall Executive Director, said. “We’re very excited to be able to provide this opportunity.”

“The challenge going forward is to get more places like City Hall to install this new technology so that people can hear better. Fitzpatrick says he’d like to see banks, post offices, and even hospitals adopt this technology so that everybody could hear clearly. So far, City Hall, Thalian Hall, and St. Mark Catholic Church are the only places in town using the loop systems.