Nov 29

AudioFetch Blog Header - Holiday Hearing Solutions

Holiday Hearing Solutions: 4 Ways AudioFetch Can Help People Hear More Together

By AudioFetch | Churches, Drive-in Audio, Hearing Assistance, Theater, Translation, Wireless Audio | No Comments

One holiday down, on to the next one! Now that Thanksgiving is past, businesses and organizations are gearing up for all the fun and festive Christmas events.

To bring communities together in safer ways and help make these events more enjoyable for guests, businesses and organizations are using AudioFetch wireless audio streaming solutions.

Discover four ways that AudioFetch is being used to help people hear more together this holiday season:

Holiday Drive-Through Events

Last year, many organizations from community centers and city planning groups to zoos and botanic gardens held drive-through events for the holidays. These events were required to adhere to social distancing guidelines and indoor restrictions, but they ended up being extremely popular and requested again this year.

If you are planning to host a drive-through or drive-in event for the holidays, we can help with your audio sound system. Our wireless audio streaming solutions allow you to broadcast audio to smartphones or tablets. Listeners simply download the AudioFetch App, and then they can hear in real-time from their cars using a smartphone or Bluetooth speaker.

Christmas Church Services

The Christmas season always brings in larger crowds at churches for holiday-themed sermons and midnight masses. The messages during this time are special, and it is especially important that they are heard plainly by everyone. But that can be difficult with the background din of shuffling, kneeling, echoing and children, especially for those with hearing impairments or language barriers.

Our assisted listening devices for churches can help 100% of people hear 100% of the services. With AudioFetch, you can broadcast the services to your congregation’s phones or other smart devices. Church members download the free AudioFetch app, and they can start listening immediately.

AudioFetch is the simplest and most affordable assistive listening solution for churches. It’s cheaper and easier than installing a complex hearing loop system, and it entirely removes the concerns of using shared listening devices. Since congregants use their own personal smartphones, there is no risk of spreading viruses and germs and you don’t have to sanitize devices after every use.

If your congregation has members that speak Spanish, French, Mandarin or any other language, AudioFetch is an invaluable solution here, too. A live translator can speak into a microphone attached to AudioFetch, which will broadcast the translated services to anyone listening via the app. Using AudioFetch as translation equipment for churches creates a welcoming environment for all church members and any new folks that only join during the Christmas season.

Holiday Theater Performances and Concerts

The Nutcracker, A Christmas Carol, Elf, Bing Crosby Christmas Concerts, School Christmas Pageants. Traditional shows, new favorites and local events can be enjoyed at theaters and performing arts centers big and small around the world at this time of year.

AudioFetch is an ideal assistive listening device for theaters. Not only is it more affordable than the traditional hearing loop systems that theaters have used in the past, but it’s also simpler and more convenient than any other assistive listening solution out there.

Plug AudioFetch in, connect to WiFi, and start broadcasting audio immediately. And there’s no need to keep track of clunky and unhygienic devices since listeners use their own smartphones and earbuds. It’s a simple and convenient solution for theater owners and theater-goers alike.

Holiday Tour Groups

Tours often pick up during the holidays when friends and family look for unique ways to experience the season together. Whether it’s a holiday-themed exhibit at a museum or a walking tour to experience the seasonal sights and sounds of a city, tours can be a fun way to enjoy each other’s company outside the home.

To make that experience even more enjoyable and protect the health of both attendees and tour guides alike, businesses and organizations are using our wireless tour guide audio system. The tour guide simply speaks into a microphone attached to our AudioFetch Express, and the tour group members can listen via their smartphones and personal headphones.

If you’re looking for an effective and cost-efficient audio solution for your business or organization this holiday season, AudioFetch is it! Contact us by calling 844-HI-FETCH or scheduling an appointment to discuss your needs and get a free quote.

Jul 13

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AudioFetch-Blog-Header-World-Lutheran-Deaf-Outreach-Ministry

World Lutheran Deaf Outreach Ministry Provides Hearing Assistance with AudioFetch

By AudioFetch | AudioFetch News, Churches, Hearing Assistance | No Comments

We’re proud to work with businesses and organizations that help to bring communities together and raise awareness about hearing health around the world. We wanted to highlight a commendable organization that we’ve recently had the pleasure of working with to provide an assistive listening solution–World Lutheran Deaf Outreach Ministry.

Meet World Lutheran Deaf Outreach Ministry

World Lutheran Deaf Outreach Ministry (WLDO) seeks to connect with the 98% of deaf and hard of hearing individuals who do not attend church because of hearing concerns. Various factors–sentence structure, passive voice, inefficient hearing assistance devices–have historically made attending services a challenge, but WLDO is changing that! Through resources, training, worship, and small group study, WLDO is helping deaf and hard of hearing people come together where they previously couldn’t.

WLDO has deaf ministries in locations around the country, including Emmanuel Lutheran Church of the Deaf in Milwaukee, WI, Our Savior Deaf Lutheran Church in Madison, WI, Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Delavan, WI, Life in Christ Church in Peoria, AZ, Trinity Lutheran Church in Litchfield Park, AZ, Holy-Three-In-One Lutheran Deaf Church in Houston, TX, and St. Paul Lutheran Church in Jackson, MS.

How WLDO Discovered AudioFetch for Assistive Listening

We were introduced to WLDO through a customer that had previously purchased our home audio streaming solution, AudioFetch Home. “My hearing is significantly impaired (60% loss) and I really can’t understand TV programs,” says Galen Stanely, who purchased AudioFetch Home in November 2020. “With AudioFetch Home streaming to my Bluetooth hearing aids via my iPhone, the audio is crystal clear. I use it every day.”

After having such a positive experience with Home, Galen recommended AudioFetch to his pastor. “Our WLDO pastor ministers full time to hearing impaired and deaf people in our area and all across the US,” Galen added. “He uses the highly mobile AudioFetch Express for both worship and small group study while visiting many churches and congregations.”

The Most Affordable Assistive Listening Solution for Churches

Houses of worship around the world use AudioFetch Express as simple, affordable, and flexible assistive listening devices for churches, as well as to provide real-time translation services. AudioFetch eliminates the need for maintenance-intensive and unhygienic assistive listening devices or expensive and complex hearing loop systems. It’s simple to install and easy for listeners to use via the free AudioFetch app on their smartphone or tablet.

If you’re looking for an effective and cost-efficient way to provide accessibility for your hearing-impaired members, AudioFetch is the ideal solution! Contact us by calling 844-HI-FETCH or scheduling an appointment to discuss your house of worship application and free get a quote.

Feb 01

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AudioFetch Blog Header - New Tech for New Normal

New Technology for a New Normal

By AudioFetch | Churches, Education, Fitness Centers, Hearing Assistance, Restaurants, Sports Bars, Tour Guides, Translation | No Comments

We’re all eager to return to some semblance of normalcy in our daily and public lives. Yet, with new more contagious and more deadly variants of COVID-19 spreading across the globe, that possibility keeps getting further and further away. And even when the world does get a handle on this pandemic, and public businesses and events can resume at full capacity, it won’t be what we all consider “normal” for a long time.

In this new normal, people will be extremely cautious when it comes to patronizing businesses or attending public events. We’ve gotten used to the regulations. They not only provide safety from a physical standpoint–wearing masks and standing farther apart makes it more difficult for disease-carrying saliva droplets to land on others–they also provide emotional safety by making us feel safer and protected from the things we can’t fully control. Once the pandemic is controlled, the physical aspects go away quickly, but the emotional ones will stick around for a long while.

Even if businesses do open back up at full capacity and all regulations are lifted this year, it’s wise to continue providing safety measures for your customers and guests, allowing them to feel more comfortable and confident at your establishment.

Our audio over WiFi streaming solutions can help your business provide these safety measures now, and in a post-pandemic world. Following are three ways our technology can help in the new normal.

Continued Social Distancing

Our wireless tour guide system lets tour guides broadcast their voice to anyone within 300 feet in any direction. This allows for ample distance between tour group attendees, and provides your business with a responsible and marketable advantage.

At restaurants and sports bars, AudioFetch allows you to broadcast audio from muted TVs to your customers’ smartphones and tablets. No need to gather around a single TV to hear the audio, or even have tables grouped nearby. Customers can hear the TV audio anywhere in the building or patio seating by using the free AudioFetch app. This allows everyone to maintain a safe, comfortable distance from others, while enjoying the entertainment, the food and drinks, and the community experience.

Less Shared Equipment

Even pre-pandemic, hearing assistive devices and transmitters were always a pain to keep clean. Post-pandemic, customers and guests will be less willing to use a shared device. At best, this creates a less enjoyable experience; at worst, they’ll look for another venue that is more welcoming and accommodating.

AudioFetch solves this problem. Since listeners use their own smartphone and headphones to hear the audio, you don’t need to provide (or maintain!) any additional devices. AudioFetch is ideal as an assistive listening system for churches, theaters, and schools and educational facilities, or as a translation streaming solution. Tour groups also benefit from replacing their shared hearing devices with their attendees’ smartphones and the AudioFetch app.

Fewer Surfaces to Touch

For fitness centers and gyms, instead of using entertainment screens attached to cardio machines or allowing anyone to control shared TVs or sound systems, members use their own smartphones to listen to TV audio or music throughout the club. This reduces the number of surfaces that members come into contact with at the club. It also limits the amount of equipment that must be disinfected by your staff throughout the day.

In addition to tour groups, sports bars, churches, theaters, schools and fitness centers, AudioFetch can benefit numerous other types of businesses and organizations that want to help their guests hear better and feel safer. Call us today at 1-844-443-3824 or schedule a meeting to discuss how your business can use new technology for a new normal.

Jan 19

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AudioFetch Blog Header - How to Make Your Church More Accessible

How to Make Your Worship Services More Accessible

By AudioFetch | Churches, Hearing Assistance, Translation | No Comments

Creating a welcoming and inclusive environment is a key goal for every type of religious organization. Church members and guests should be provided with resources and tools that allow them to take part in weekly services and other events to the fullest extent possible, despite any hearing impairments or language barriers.

Yet, because houses of worship are exempt from the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and/or because many believe that addressing these requirements is too complicated and expensive, they neglect to take steps to create this welcoming community. Fortunately, we’re proud to offer a solution that is both simple and inexpensive to install.

Our audio over WiFi solutions are designed to make it simple and affordable for any type of religious organization to make their services more accessible and welcoming to all types of audiences. Learn how AudioFetch helps those with hearing impairments and language barriers.

Welcoming a Person Who is Hard of Hearing

According to That All May Worship, the leading educational publication that provides tips and information on how houses of worship can better welcome people with disabilities, hearing impairments are an imperative. “Each congregation includes people, young and old, who are hard of hearing or deaf. They may read lips so well that they appear less deaf than they truly are. Indeed, they may understand only 80% of what is spoken, chanted or sung, but may be reluctant to complain.”

For decades, houses of worship have used inductive loop systems to assist the hearing impaired, but these systems are cumbersome, expensive and still require the use of a hearing aid which many people find embarrassing. AudioFetch is a better solution to hearing loops.

Our assisted listening devices for churches allow listeners to hear the service via an app on their own device (phone or tablet) using their own headphones. This is a great solution for those who are reluctant to complain or request a hearing device. It also eliminates the need for using shared devices, which require ongoing maintenance to ensure they’re properly working and, uber important in today’s climate, disinfected.

By offering hearing assistance, you’re providing a safe and approachable environment for all members and their families. As noted in That All May Worship: “Many deaf [and hard of hearing] people prefer to worship in congregations which specifically serve people who are deaf [or hard of hearing]. This is particularly important for deaf parents who have hearing children and wish to worship as a family.”

Welcoming a Person Who Speaks Another Language

For many houses of worship, English isn’t the first language for some of their members. Members may attend your services to be with their English-speaking family members or because there are no other options in the area. But providing live language interpretation will allow all to feel welcome in your community, and may even bring in a whole new audience.

With our AudioFetch translation equipment for churches, your members use their own smart phone and headset to listen in to translation via the AudioFetch app. If you’re already using AudioFetch for hearing assistance, you can use the same device. Simply dedicate another channel to broadcast a real-time stream of the translation.

With Easter right around the corner, houses of worship can prepare now to create a more inclusive environment for all members. Call us today at 1-844-443-3824 or schedule a meeting to discuss hearing assistance and translation solutions for your church.

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