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Tempe Installs New Technology To Help Hard Of Hearing

The city of Tempe will soon start installing a new system to help the hard of hearing.

Hearing loops send a clear stream of audio from the person speaking into a hearing aid or cochlear implant.

Listen to this video to hear what it sounds like without and with a hearing loop for someone who has difficulty hearing.

They’re helpful in movies, churches and big public meetings. That’s why the city chose the library as the first location for its hearing loops.

“When you go to a meeting and you’re there you’ve taken the time to go to a meeting or an event, you want to make sure you get everything out of it,” said Michele Stokes, the City of Tempe’s Americans with Disabilities Act compliance specialist. She is profoundly deaf and said hearing loops are easy to use.

“I don’t have to go and ask somebody for something,” Stokes said. “I can go in the room and participate just like anybody else.”

The loops connect to the hearing devices telecoil or t-coil. The person using the hearing aid or cochlear implant just flips a switch to access the audio stream.

RELATED: New Hearing Loop In Arizona Legislature To Help Members, Visitors Who Are Hard Of Hearing

The Arizona Community foundation awarded the city $23,000 to install hearing loops in two rooms of the library. Tempe City Council approved the grant May 17, 2018. The hearing loops should be finished by October.

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Mariana Dale was an assistant digital editor and senior field corrsepondent at KJZZ from 2016 to 2019.