Tired of wearing unsightly and cumbersome headphones?  Can’t hear the services even if you have hearing aids?  Relief is coming, and soon!  The church will have a Hearing Loop system, state of the art technology for public places, installed by the end of September.  Unlike our current system, the Loop will create a magnetic field which is picked up by T-coil-equipped hearing aids, so no headphones are required.
The sound is greatly improved over headphones because each person’s hearing aid is individually tuned to their ears, and annoying room sound is eliminated because the hearing aids fit snugly in the ear canal.  Nearly all in-ear and behind-the-ear hearing aids made in the last 5 years have T-coils in them.  As an added bonus, users can elect to hear the Loop sound only (eliminates room sound), room sound only (eliminates the Loop), or both at once.  The choice is made on the user’s hearing aid.  But wait, there’s more!  We will also receive two receivers and headphones for those who don’t have hearing aids, but need a little assistance.

This all started at Summer Institute.  I noticed that Warren Brown, sound tech for SI and Akron UU member, installed a temporary Loop in the church.  I asked him about it, and he said he installed Loop systems professionally.  And if I helped him out with the grunt work, we’d get a price break. Just last week the Ministerial Executive Team approved the install.  Olive Hobbs, soon you can rejoice!

Look for this Loop System logo in the church soon.

Brad Bolton