Personal Assistive Listening Devices

Personal assistive listening devices are intended for the use of a single listener. They may be configured to work with more than one speaker, but they are generally used with a single speaker.

The most common devices are wired devices like the Pocket Talker. Similar in purpose, but more flexible because it is wireless is the Personal FM System. Also similar in purpose, but with less flexibility are Wireless Headphones.

Wired Personal ALDs

A wired personal ALD like the Pocket Talker is intended to facilitate conversation between a person with hearing loss and a normally hearing person. It consists of a processor about the size of a small transistor radio, a microphone that connects to the processor, and an output device that also connects to the processor.

The hearing person speaks into the microphone, and the person with hearing loss uses the output device to improve their speech comprehension. The output device may be a pair of headphones that the hard of hearing, late deafened, or oral deaf person wears, or it may be a wire with a jack that plugs directly into a hearing aid or CI.

Some of these devices may be configured for multiple speakers, but they are primarily intended for one-on-one situations.

Personal FM Systems

Personal FM systems are intended to provide improved speech comprehension to a single listener. They are similar in concept to a Pocket Talker, but are much more flexible, because they are wireless. They work much like a radio station; one part (the transmitter) accepts microphone input and transmits the electronic equivalent of that sound into the air; the other part (the receiver) receives the electronic signal and provides the acoustic equivalent to the listener. Because these systems are wireless, they provide more flexibility than the Pocket Talker.

Typical uses include:

- At a lecture, give the speaker the transmitter & a lapel microphone, and hear every word of the lecture, even if the speaker turns to face a chalkboard or looks down at some papers.

- At a restaurant, put the transmitter on the table, and pick up the voices nearest the microphone no matter where you sit at the table.

- In a meeting, listen to a speakerphone conversation, by placing the transmitter next to the telephone speaker.

- At church, plug the transmitter into a spare output jack on the sound mixer board (cable is $4 at Radio Shack), sit anywhere in church, and get a nice clear signal without any reverberation or fuzziness.

- In a car, converse using the same setup as for a lecture.

- At home, plug the transmitter into the headphone jack of a boombox to listen to the radio, tapes, or CDs in any room in the house.

Wireless Headphones

Some people have reported that wireless headphones work very well for listening to TV. They are available in FM or Infra-red, and not all that expensive (starting around $50.) Input can be through a plug (which requires that the TV have an audio jack) or through a microphone placed near the TV speaker. The plug is better, if your TV has an audio jack.