Does anyone use the telecoil option on their HA?

Program #4 on my Siemens HAs kicks in the telecoil. Re: interference – I surely notice the buzz in Program #4 when I am near our microwave oven or even when the LED spotlights are dimmed in our den. So, I just switch back to Program #1.

What’s MT/mT, please. Thanks.

The capital M is normal mic input. The lower m is less mic input. For while using the telecoil.

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When I was shopping for HA’s, there were only MFI options. I don’t do Apple. Then I learned about the telecoil and how to make my own loop for those few times I prefer it over normal tv audio.

Gael Hannan recently said it much better then I can.

Stop Trash-Talking Telecoils!

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Please tell me more! I have Resound with all the bells & whistles, including the mike. Our church has a “Listen Technology” fm system which I now plug directly into a ClearSound neck loop which then energizes my T-coils in my HA. The results are very good - the nuisance is that this requires using the neck loop. Are you saying that you plug directly into the remote mike and it talks to your HAs without a neck loop?

I also use a BT neck loop, which couples up with a BT transmitter that I plug directly into a sound system mixer that has a tape-out jack. Good results - but maybe the remote mike input would bypass the neck loop?

I’ve been trying to get our church to install an loop around part of all of our sanctuary to no avail.

I think much of the problem lies with the audiologists who, for some reason totally ignore the benefits of the T-coil. Most users don’t have any idea if their HA has a T-coil - energized or not.
LRA

For your smile for the day. Last night I watched two presentations by the people at Medel about their new Sonnet 2 cochlear implant device and the updated software that is used to set it up by audi’s In the field. The latest and the greatest and very interesting if you are technically inclined. It was late in the evening so I used the telecoil setup on my HA and current version Sonnet to listen to the video quietly in the house. Worked very well.

Just relied it with my brand new Phonak M90-RT in a room with admittedly poor acoustics. It worked wonderfully!

What is the downside (if any) of having telecoil available in the HA?

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It makes the devices slightly larger, is the only downside I can think of physically. It can be confusing for some users to increase the number of programs to include it as well.
The upsides definitely outweigh either of those for me!

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who the hell needs telecoil anymore when we have Bluetooth and texting? lol :smiley:
and in movie theaters and events, I can still hear thankfully

Here is where Tcoil is handy for me - as well as bluetooth. The Tcoil gives you more control over what your device mics are doing. In a noisy environment on a phone call I can essentially turn off the device mics and just hear what is being said on the phone. Helps a lot for word recognition for me. I have a CI in one ear and can quickly flip with my remote from pure Telecoil to a 50/50 mix.

good point too BTW :smiley:

Yes!

I am surprised how many people here say no, or find it too fiddly. One of the few POSITIVE things I get out of my loss is the telecoil! I use mine in manual mode, and turn off any of the features that automatically turn it on or sense the magnet. When I want the telecoil on, I have to manually switch to that program. I also exclusively use it with the mic completely off.

This lets me hear music as clear as day regardless of environmental sound… To me, there is nothing better than flying down a dirt path on my bike or motorcycle even, and everything is completely muted except for my music… driving in a car on the freeway, in a noisy room, on the bus, etc… its like the ultimate headphones. Also, another benefit is (I have a profound loss) I can BLAST music and nobody else can hear it. Whereas with traditional headphones I really have to crank them up and even at full level they generally aren’t loud enough. (PS- I usually use a loop)

Also, this may be geeky, but friends of mine consider it a superpower. I’ve had people ask me to use my telecoil to determine if a device is on, or if a wire is electrically hot, as I can usually lean in and pick up the interference generated. Sometimes, but rarely does the interference be a problem. Sometimes on planes I do have to lean a specific way to avoid too much interference, or I’ve noticed near the back of a bus the motor generates a lot of interference as well, but in most situations, especially when away from motors or big industrial places this is not an issue.

-Plus, once I happened to be walking down a wash during a downpour, and instead of just turning off my aids I just swapped to telecoil to mute the mic and enjoy the silence, and a lightning bolt struck very close nearby. I’ll never forget how it sounded, and still think about it today. No crack, no thunder, just a vibrato hum/sizzle of pure, raw energy! I am one of probably very few people who have heard lightning only from its pure electromagnetic dicharge and no actual sound/waves. How cool is that?!

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old thread but applies to me…
I was going to get fitted with the 312 model, but asked specifically for the 13T…just like the OP (dondotashe)!
Just negligibly larger aids with significantly more battery
Also, at the time I didn’t know much about T-coil, but knew that our church has an FM system and assumed that it might also work with t-coil…maybe other places too. Saw a youtube video about looped rooms and I was sold (I think it was dr cliff)

So far I have found no place that was looped.
I have not used it for it’s original purpose (old landline phones)
I bought a neck loop to try plugging into my computer’s phone jack in place of headphones… but I get too much static in my “chair” at home.
I bought my own FM receiver that uses a neckloop. Used it only a few times so far at church, but I love it for that! I bring it every time but only need to use it when we have a foreign priest with heavily accented broken english.

i keep hoping to find a service booth, ticket counter, theater, etc…with a room or area loop.

Regardless, I’m happy to have it!

I find the t-coil most useful using a standard landline telephone. As a hearing aid wearer for many years, I still prefer a landline phone over a cell phone if its going to be a lengthy call. For me, the voice quality is still better than a cell phone.

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Interesting take on telecoils: Stop Trash-Talking Telecoils! – Gael Hannan – Better Hearing Consumer

Quote:
I don’t know how to say this more clearly: Telecoils in my hearing aids have made my life better .

Better, happier, easier, and more connected. And I’m not the only one – there are gazillions of us. Because of this positive experience, it’s frustrating for us – the hearing loss advocates and international organizations – to hear that audiologists are advising against telecoils, saying they’re ‘old technology’ and here, try this newest, greatest thing!

Without telecoils, I wouldn’t have been able to use the phone as well as I have for the past 20 years. I still use it to talk on the phone, both cell and landline, daily.

Without telecoils, I would continue jostling for space at the front of a group or crowd, to sit in the front row so that I could better see and lipread the speaker. Now I can stand at the back of a crowded hall – like I recently did at the national conventions of the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association and the Hearing Loss Association of America. In plenary sessions and smaller workshops, the speakers’ voices flowed beautifully into my devices. (Bluetooth can’t do that – the poor speaker would have 100 transmitters handing around her neck or pinned to his clothes.)

Without telecoils, I wouldn’t have been able to use audio guides in museums, art galleries, boat tours and other facilities around the world that care about inclusion for people with hearing loss. I would have had to rely on imperfect relay by the Hearing Husband or get by just with the visual information.

I’ve used telecoils in other looped environments such as at church, at the bank, and watching TV. When I’m presenting or performing, in addition to the audience area being looped, I ask for the stage area to be looped as well, because it lets me hear myself better (always a good thing for the presenter).

Still, many audiologists say that telecoils are ‘old’ technology, as if discoveries come with a “Use By” date when they are suddenly no longer useful. I mean, hey! What about the wheel? It’s a very old invention – and to this day, wheels still make our world go ’round. Like the song says: big wheel keep on turnin’ ! Penicillin and insulin were invented in the 1920’s and they are still saving lives. So, while telecoils are decades-old, they still provide crucial and exquisite access to communication.

Hearing care professionals need to stop trash-talking telecoils, because people with hearing loss around the world love them! We love how switching our devices to the telecoil mode connects us to other people. And it’s not an ‘either-or’ situation. We also love what Bluetooth does for us when we can use it. We adore the improvements in speech-to-text technology. We are passionate about captioning.

We want it all and today we can have it all – but only if hearing care professionals put client needs first and look at our overall, everyday hearing requirements. And if they are still not convinced – simply because we say so – we strongly recommend they attend a consumer hearing loss event. There, they can see for themselves the look on the face of a person with hearing loss when they use telecoils for the first time in a workshop or when someone sings the national anthem. That look of wonder is worth a CEU (Continuing Education Credit).

If you’re a person whose hearing care professional tries to talk you out of a telecoil, be polite but firm: Give. Me. A. Telecoil! And if that doesn’t work, find a more person-centered care clinic.

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Agree with above but I happen to regularly attend medical and educational conferences where telecoil is standard. Other than those venues I have found very few places that are looped. However I believe that the new Bluetooth, whenever it arrives, Will probably replace telecoil.

i was surprised…recent trip to both NYC and Washington DC visiting museums and various visitor centers, I found zero places to use my t-coil.
Also visited my parents, who have the only old fashioned phone I know of and couldn’t tell if my t-coil even worked with it. The dial tone was so loud coming out of the earpiece that I couldn’t tell if the aids were picking it up…and yes I switched to t-coil mode.

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