About Now Hear This
The mission of Now Hear This is to raise the awareness, understanding,
and availability of Auracast and other assistive listening systems in the USA.
Anyone with even a mild hearing loss can benefit from the capabilities of hearing aids and of assistive listening systems. Hearing loss is an invisible and insidious disability, and there are many people who are unaware that they have experienced such a loss. Being in the audience at a play, or in a pew at a worship service and not being able to understand what's being said, is a sure sign a person has hearing loss. The only way to determine if that's the case is to undergo a hearing test and, if recommended, seriously consider investing in hearing aids.
There are literally thousands of conscientious, well-trained audiologists and hearing aids dispensers (hearing instrument specialists) available to test people for hearing loss, and an untold number of websites where people can do their own hearing test. For those who learn they have a mild to moderate hearing loss, there are now over-the- counter (OTC) hearing aids available to treat the condition (if the loss is mild to moderate) in addition to those prescribed by hearing care professionals. For anyone with a severe to profound loss, only professionally prescribed hearing aids will have sufficient power to overcome their loss.
There are limits, though, to how much help hearing aids can provide. They are most effective to hear and understand people speaking from no more than eight to ten feet away. When that limit is reached, the speaker must speak more loudly then normal, or the hearing aids may need to be supplemented with additional technology to provide optimum communication access.
One type of supplemental technology is an assistive listening system - an ALS. ALSs are required by the Americans with Disabilities Act to be provided in most public gathering places served by a public address system. This website focuses on Auracast™, an emerging Bluetooth® technology that some feel will replace older types of systems over the next decade, but it also serves as a clearinghouse for news and other information on ALS availability, and the various technologies used by assistive listening systems.
There are hundreds of performing arts halls that have ALSs, and thousands of places of worship that offer them, but they often have very little use according to a recent survey on the matter. They are identified by this blue international sign. If it contains the letter "T", the ALS is a hearing loop. Without the "T", it is one of the other technologies. If you have found this website and are reading this piece, you have taken a giant step in addressing your possible hearing loss and the negative impact it can have on your quality of life. It may encourage you to have a hearing test, and also to try using an ALS when one is available. That is the purpose of this website.
Stephen O. Frazier
Hearing Loss Support Specialist
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