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Building Community Through Hearing Assistance

By | Hearing Assistance | No Comments

A new study at Cigna reveals that loneliness is at epic proportions in the United States. The UCLA Loneliness Scale indicated that nearly half of all Americans feel alone; older adults with hearing loss feel isolated, but Gen Z is the loneliest of all. The article suggests that getting enough sleep and exercise can help combat loneliness.

The best way of dealing with loneliness is to have a sense of community. Learning, work, and friendship are important aspects of living a full life and not understanding another person’s language or having trouble hearing them creates isolation. Without language translation or hearing assistance, people tend to congregate in their own groups and this creates exclusion. However, there are many locations for community building already in place: schools, churches, senior centers, sporting events and the workplace, to name a few. The key is to create social and cultural inclusion so that everyone feels welcome and understood.

Beyond addressing loneliness, there are benefits of cultural and language inclusion. It’s been proven that children who are taught in their own language learn faster and make better grades, and companies with inclusive policies have higher earnings.

A sporting event bypasses cultural and language barriers as well as hearing impairments, and sharing a game can bond a group. Audio streaming for bars and restaurants is a great way to include everyone, no matter which team they are rooting for. Not only that, many adults do not wish to admit that they have a hearing impairment as it implies disability, so offering an audio solution that helps groups to bond can make it easier for those with hearing disabilities to feel safe to ask for what they need.

To create stronger community at church and help to overcome language barriers, the congregation can use assisted listening devices for churches to translate the entire sermon into the non-dominant language so that parishioners understand what it’s like to hear in a language that they may not fully understand. Plus, those with hearing impairments can feel more included if they are able to use an audio streaming device with earbuds so that they don’t miss a word of the service no matter what language it’s in.

We hope that you will help to address the issue of loneliness by entering into a community or creating one that will show kindness to others. If you’d like to learn more about how our audio solutions could help, contact us.

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Addressing the Issue of Hearing Loss

By | AudioFetch News, Hearing Assistance | No Comments

Before installing an audio streaming solution to help your customers hear the audio they want, it’s important to be educated about the effects of hearing loss. Of the five human senses, hearing is the one that allows people to communicate with friends, family and coworkers and to enjoy entertainment. When we hear well it is a blessing, yet astonishingly, 1 in every 8 people over the age of 12 in the US has hearing loss in both ears. Age is a factor in hearing loss, particularly for people over 60, and men in that age group are twice as likely to suffer severe hearing loss as women.  

Hearing problems have significant effects on a person’s social life and sense of well being. Imagine the college student that can’t find a seat at the front of that huge classroom to hear the professor, or the parent attending their child’s school play, or one of your buddies who has joined you at the local pub to enjoy game day. Some people aren’t even aware that they have suffered hearing loss and when they do find out, it is very difficult to admit to others.  Oftentimes, people are reluctant to wear a hearing aid–afraid of the stigma or perception associated with them–which is why those with hearing loss can feel isolated.

Recognizing this chronic problem, some theaters such as Austin-based Alamo Drafthouse, are now offering open-captioned films for hearing impaired moviegoers.  While captioning is helpful in a movie theater, it’s not available for other group entertainment – concerts, speeches, rallies, lectures, plays, sports games, etc.  In those instances, WiFi audio streaming system would be more helpful.

Offering your hearing-impaired customers a solution that streams audio over WiFi to their cell phone provides a discreet and helpful way for them to hear what they want wherever they may be. If you’d like to learn more about audio solutions from AudioFetch, contact us!

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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 Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) GIVEAWAY!

By | Uncategorized | No Comments

AudioFetch is the absolute best platform for providing local audio over WiFi to smartphones and tablets across any application. The Fetch-family of products are employed in fitness centers, sports bars, restaurants, churches, universities, lecture halls, theaters, tour companies, airports, correctional facilities, community centers, casinos, auctions and more. Our solutions are easy to install and stream audio to your customers smart phones, so you get to avoid upkeep and tracking of clunky equipment.

Embrace the “bring your own device” (BYOD) culture, by allowing your customers to use their smartphones for hearing assistance, access to multilingual content, audio descriptions or any live voice audio.

Whether you’re a tour company, church, educational facility, theater or any other type of venue, we want to help your guests hear better. Now through September 30th, we’re giving away a free AudioFetch FetchExpress system to four lucky winners! Just enter your business information for a chance to win!

To give you an idea of some of the creative ways an audio streaming solution could help improve your business here are 4 of our top blogs to offer inspiration…

Enter the Bring Your Own Device Giveaway today!

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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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Offer the Miracle of Hearing to Your Church Congregation

By | Churches | No Comments

Masses of people flock to worship services to seek counseling about the things in life that challenge and worry them. People come ready to be inspired by a power greater than themselves and to interact with others on a path of positivity. Most of all, people come to be uplifted in a world that often leaves us wondering about our purpose and fated course of action.

People experience a grand portion of these services audibly: following the words of the pastor, enjoying the hymns of the choir, talking and sharing with others. Much of the appeal of being in religious spaces is felt through our ears.

Aging adults and the hearing impaired may find it disappointing not being able to fully engage in church services. What might also come as a surprise is that according to general statistics on hearing from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders about 15% of adults of all ages and backgrounds have varying 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.

Lack of accessibility in places of worship can lead to a decline in service attendance, especially for those with aging congregations. Loss of hearing is alienating and may lead people to shy away from attending services and interacting with their community like they may have before. Offering only unaided services could lead to the negative outcome of people remaining at home to listen to services on devices like radios, television sets, computers and phones where they can adjust the volume to suit their needs.

Hearing loss can affect anyone and offering accessibility tools to individuals who might need them can set one place of worship apart from another as an open and accommodating community. Besides setting yourself apart as a hospitable place, you will be able to reach your congregations at different stages of hearing ability.

Offer the miracle of hearing with assistive listening devices for churches and help your congregations hear better.

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A Better Solution to Hearing Loop Systems for Churches

By | Churches, Food for thought, General, Hearing Assistance | No Comments

Churches and houses of worship around the globe use inductive hearing loop technology for assistive listening, allowing their members to hear better during services. A hearing loop is a wire that hugs the perimeter of a room and is plugged into an amplifier. That amplifier creates a magnetic signal, which is then sent to the T-coil in a hearing aid, providing a clearer audio without interference.

Hearing loops have helped millions of people and are a great solution that does not require any additional devices for the listener, besides a hearing aid. But what about the people that don’t have or refuse to wear a hearing aid? And what about the business implications of installing wiring in every room?

There’s a better solution for churches and members alike. It’s wireless audio streaming. Below are four reasons that wireless audio streaming systems are better than hearing loop systems for assistive listening devices in churches:

  1. No Hearing Aid Required

Oftentimes, people don’t wear hearing aids when they should. The reasons are many:  They forgot it at home; it’s too uncomfortable to wear; it creates too much feedback; it’s too expensive to purchase; or it makes them feel old. Whatever the reasons, not wearing a hearing aid when you need one can lead to feelings of isolation and missing out on important conversations and connections.

With wireless audio streaming, all the listener needs is a smartphone or mobile device, which nearly everyone has already and never leaves home without, and headphones.

  1. No Wires, No Hassle

For businesses, the costs associated with installing wiring in every room and the time- and labor-intensive process of installing the loop wire are often prohibitive. A system that streams audio locally requires no wires, and installation involves simply plugging in the equipment, connecting to wifi and configuring channels. It really is that easy!

  1. Minimum Equipment

A single piece of equipment is required for local audio streaming systems. If you’d like expand coverage or connect with other audio sources, you can add a transmitter and receiver, but these are entirely optional.

  1. Lower Installation Cost and No Monthly Fees

Depending on the size and construction of the venue, installation of hearing loop systems can be difficult. You’ll need to pull up carpeting, tiling or baseboards (which may then need to be replaced), and metal in walls or floors can oftentimes create interference. Therefore, installation usually requires specialists, can be quite messy and takes some time.

Compare that to local audio streaming systems, which are essentially plug-and-play. And with a system like AudioFetch, you only pay for the equipment, we do not charge any recurring monthly usage fees.

Save time and money, and make it easier for your members to hear with wireless assisted listening devices for churches. Call us at 1-877-301-8639 or send a note today to learn more.

Want more tips and info on hearing assistance for churches? Check out our blog “How to Make Your Church More Accessible.”