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How to Help the Hard of Hearing at Church this Holiday

By | Churches, Hearing Assistance | No Comments

The messages given at holiday services are special and thematic.  It is especially important that the sermon be heard plainly by everyone, including any new guests who may like to return throughout the year.  Your house of worship may be wondering, how can we help hard-of-hearing patrons in church?

Because there are more people in attendance, there is also a lot more ambient noise with people shuffling feet or moving around on their seats, coughing and sneezing, children talking and being shushed.  Even for people without hearing loss, this makes it hard to hear the speakers making announcements and the minister preaching a sermon. For people who do have hearing impairment it becomes even more challenging to pay attention if they are missing every other word.

Aging adults and the hearing impaired may find it disappointing when they can’t fully engage in church services. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders states that about 15% of adults of all ages and backgrounds have degrees of hearing loss or trouble hearing. In fact, NIDCD estimated that 28.8 million adults in the U.S. might benefit from using hearing aids. Your house of worship could achieve the ability to amplify sound to elder or hearing impaired members without disturbing the experience of your other members by using assistive listening devices for churches that transmit audio directly to a smartphone.

You may also have parishioners attending holiday services whose first language is not English and who wish to understand everything that is said.  You may choose to have a translator. This way, all parishioners are together to enjoy the special service and understand it. An audio streaming solution that transmits audio directly to a user’s smartphone, can offer a house of worship the opportunity to offer translation of the service into one language without disturbing the other congregation members who speak the other language.

It’s easy to overcome these issues and allow everyone to adequately hear these special holiday services and offer translation by using a streaming audio system from AudioFetch. Contact us to find out more about how you can more easily reach the ears of your entire congregation.

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The Benefits of a Personal PA System

By | Business, Churches, Dining, Education, Fashion, Fitness Centers, Hearing Assistance, Music, Restaurants, Sports Bars, streaming, Tour Guides, Waiting Rooms | No Comments

Whether you’re a factory manager, a tour guide, a minister or a sports bar manager, you understand the importance of keeping your people happy. Information is today’s currency, and there is so much of it, coming so quickly, that being able to convey and understand critical information is of top importance.

Communication is essential, whether between your business and employees, or your clientele. This can mean different things depending on your business; saving time, eliminating distractions or simply providing an impeccable experience. Whatever your goals are, an audio streaming solution could help you get there faster.

Have you ever presented at a business conference in a cavernous lecture hall or noisy convention center? How much time is spent trying to get the microphone or AV system working and repeating Q&A responses so that people in every corner of the room can hear? What if you could take advantage of smart phone technology, and everyone could stream audio from your presentation in real-time? You wouldn’t be competing with conversation in the back of the room, noise from the hall, or general din of a busy convention center. Your presentation just became more productive and efficient.

Maybe you’re expanding your business and need to train employees at your new location, but last-minute installation and finishing are still going on. If you used a personal PA system with built in wifi, your new team could follow you around the store, warehouse, or office without worrying about the distraction or disruption of the other work going on. Your employees will be trained in less time, saving you money.

Construction sites and factory floors are notoriously loud. Bring in new people or guide investors around the site and have a productive conversation despite all that’s going on. You will know they aren’t missing any of the important points.

Maybe you work with the public – education, fitness instruction, giving tours at a local museum or botanical garden, auctioneering, hosting book club at the library, guiding field trips through a nature preserve or historical site. Streaming your instruction with a wireless audio guide system will give your students and clients a better, deeper experience without interrupting or distracting others, and maybe even save your voice.

Does your church serve the hearing impaired? Let them listen in real-time with personal PA technology. Do you have a cry room or nursery separate from the sanctuary? Mothers and caretakers can keep up on the sermon without waking the babies. You can tend your flock in a way that meets their needs.

Additionally, you’re not limited to streaming your own voice. Maybe your business or agency would benefit from streaming music, or pertinent content. Anxious patients in the waiting room? They can stream soothing music. Bored citizens waiting for their number at the DMV? Offer audio from TVs mounted throughout the room, or a review of traffic laws while they wait.

Perhaps you want to provide some of the benefits of music to your employees, without allowing a free-for-all when it comes to internet streaming. This technology can offer a variety of options, pre-selected by you or your management team.

If this is something that would help your business increase productivity and efficiency, or create happier, more satisfied clients, Fetch Express is one option to consider. Contact us at AudioFetch for more information.

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Is Audio Streaming Right for Your House of Worship?

By | Uncategorized, Churches, Hearing Assistance, streaming | No Comments

A house of worship should be a place that brings people from all walks of life together for fellowship. With young and old, bilingual speakers and various disabilities all coming together in one space, a house of worship needs solutions to help meet its congregation’s audio needs. It used to be that adding assistive listening devices for churches wasn’t worth the trouble; programming changes and ongoing upkeep made it an expensive and burdensome addition. But modern solutions are able to eliminate all of that and leverage existing technology that works for everyone.

Here are a few of the reasons why a hearing assistive system could be a God-send for your house of worship:

Replaces Outdated Equipment

With a solution that transmits to users’ smartphones, you no longer need to provide all of the hardware to make it work. In the past, the place of worship was responsible for the upkeep and distribution of the end-user components. Now you can simply plug in the portable pa system, connect to existing WiFi or use the integrated WiFi, and congregants can instantly use their smartphones or tablets to access the wireless hearing assistive services without additional expense to your church.

More Hygienic Solution

Since the users have their own personal device–smartphones or tablets–you no longer have to collect, clean the equipment and replace dead batteries. Plus, units won’t fail and require replacement because of ordinary wear and tear. This saves time and money which could be put to better uses in the community.

Scales as You Need

Since everyone uses their own device, the house of worship won’t need to worry about not having enough equipment to meet the needs of the attendees. Each person uses his or her own phone or tablet, which permits the system to support a handful or a full house without issue.

No longer will you have to qualify a user as a means of rationing equipment, and members don’t have to worry about the stigma of using a bulky hearing assitve device. Everyone can choose to use the system or not, discreetly and at their leisure. And if there are members who want to use the product, but don’t have access to a cell phone, you can always suggest that other members donate their old phones for this purpose.

Expand the Service Without Expensive Infrastructure

With an audio streaming solution, you can expand to many different locations, such as overflow areas or nurseries, without expensive system add-ons. This ensures that members can be a part of the service, no matter what they are called to do within the house of worship. It can also serve as both a hearing assistive product and an audio distribution system, allowing use of areas in conjunction with the central worship area that provide even more space for growth.

With a wireless hearing device, you can get a simple, affordable audio streaming solution that helps members with hearing disabilities, provides language translation services and connects members in other areas of the building so that all can enjoy the service. Your congregation will never miss the good word!

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4 Non-Traditional Donation Type for Churches

By | Churches, Hearing Assistance | No Comments

Churches and other houses of worship thrive on the generous offerings made by their members. But monetary giving during services is just one way that members can support their church. There are several others methods for giving and items that churches need to operate.

If you’re in need other types of donations or would like to expand the ways you accept donations, consider trying one (or all) of these unique and modern donation methods.

1. Mobile or Online Donations

EasyTithe

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Mobile or online tithing allows your members to give in easy and convenient ways, ways that fit into their busy lives. With software like easyTithe or EZekiel, members can donate at the preferred time and using their preferred payment method, and can even set up recurring donations, all without requiring them to have cash on hand during services.

2. Unused Smartphones & Tablets

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If your members are anything like us, they have a drawer full of old smartphones and other mobile devices that they never use. These devices may not be the latest and greatest, but they still work perfectly. Ask your members to donate these unused mobile devices to the church so you can use them for educational games in nurseries, learning tools on youth retreats and listening assistive devices for elderly and hard-of-hearing members, or for those requiring translation services.

3. Stocks or Mutual Funds

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Stocks and mutual funds can benefit both the church and the member donating them. Churches can take advantage of increased funding over time if the markets improve, and members can take advantages of tax deductions. Win-win!

Note: You should always consult a tax professional before accepting these types of donations to ensure you are getting the most benefit and handling it properly. Encourage your members to also speak with a tax professional.

4. Vehicle Donations

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Selling a used vehicle can be a hassle, and trade-ins aren’t always as valuable as one would hope. Encourage your members to donate their unwanted vehicle to your church to eliminate the headache of selling, and get a tax deduction. You can then fix up the car and sell it yourself, investing the money back in the church, or donate the car to a family in need.

Through unique and modern donation methods, members can provide their support more easily, helping your church operate and grow more efficiently.

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Your Congregation Needs To Hear You This Holiday

By | Churches | No Comments

As the holidays approach, lights appear, carols are sung, and places of worship are packed! Religious leaders know to expect a few more sheep around the holiday, and welcome all the new faces.

With the blessing of larger crowds, however, a few challenges do arise. Depending on the venue, background noise from even the most pious of church-goers can make communicating a little difficult. Echoes from tall ceilings or shuffling from kneelers and hymnals often distract from important messages.

As any experienced pastor, priest, rabbi or imam knows, projection is everything. Yet while the worship leaders have the experience to make sure their voice is being heard- what about the volunteer song leader, or community announcement liaison?

And considering that music is such an essential and powerful aspect in many worship services, balancing the audio, and being able to switch back and forth smoothly, without losing the attention of the congregation is so important.

Fortunately, AudioFetch offers a simple, reliable way, to help your congregation hear you this holiday season, regardless of background noise, distractions, or hearing difficulties. By downloading a free app to their smartphone device–Apple or Android–every visitor or long-time member will be able to clearly hear what is being spoken or streamed.

How about nursery workers, or others in the overflow area who would like to hear the message? AudioFetch creates a reliable way to get your worship reflection into nearby rooms or buildings.

With three different types of input options–analog, optical, or digital-coax–you are not only limited to the spoken word.

Make your religious gathering welcoming to all, and be confident that you are engaging all those who chose to attend by contacting us today, before the holiday rush.