After a recent presentation to parents and professionals at at camp for children with hearing loss, the parents brought their kids to experiment with the equipment (via telecoil neckloops).

I counted eleven kids – most of them teens – and some of them brought their own iPods and tablets to listen from.

When I asked them to turn on their telecoils to start listening with the devices, I got ten blank looks.

They had absolutely no idea what a telecoil was nor did they know if telecoil was available on their hearing devices. The sole telecoil user was a child with a MED-EL device, and she was enjoying it immediately.

I am discovering this lack of telecoil awareness or availability to be a very common issue with hearing aids and cochlear implants.

This concerns me GREATLY.

Audiologists have their reasons for not making telecoil active – especially in young children where inadvertent activation of the telecoil can cause confusion and needless concern. But at some point, there MUST be a better education process to introduce telecoil as a option for ALL individuals with hearing devices.

Please discuss with your audiologist about telecoil. It will open up a whole new world of improved listening opportunities.

Those of us folks that wear hearing aids or cochlear implants have the advantage of “tuning in” in various listening situations than people with normal hearing.

Hearing with Telecoil is certainly one of them…