By guest author Jonathan Javid
Working as an audiologist in Salt Lake City, I see multiple LDS patients per week who report that they have great difficulty hearing in church. This frustration leads to a lack of desire to attend and participate in worship services. As reverent as we try to keep our sacrament meetings, there will always be acoustical challenges for the hard of hearing. Large rooms with high ceiling make for a tough listening environment even if all of the children are perfectly quiet. Almost all of my audiology patients are unaware of the resources available to anyone that attends an LDS sacrament meetings.
Most chapels in the United States are equiped with a wireless FM system called a Comtek device. These were installed at the time of a building’s construction if the building was built within the past 30 years. But even most older buildings have been updated with this technology. This unit is essentially a radio that allows you to have a close-up listening experience. The device allows transmission from the chapel audio system directly to you through headphones. This provides the listener the benefit of getting the direct signal without any distracting noises and allows them to adjust the volume to their preference.
Devices are stored in the materials center (library) and can be checked out by any member or visitor. If the materials center is locked, please speak with the ward librarian or a member of your bishopric or branch presidency to get a device. Once a device is obtained, it can be turned on by inserting headphones into the jack. If the device does not power on, the batteries are likely dead. Almost all LDS meetinghouses in the United States should have an assistive listening device available for use, although many people are not even aware of them. If a device can not be found in your local chapel, please speak with your stake technology specialist and they will be able to assist you.
Please be aware that this device only works while in the chapel and will not work in Relief Society, Priesthood, Primary or Sunday School rooms. If you have difficulty hearing in those rooms, you are encouraged to sit in the front and be proactive by asking the speaker or instructor to use a microphone if one is available.
By using this device, it will help reduce the frustration of not being able to fully participate in sacrament meeting. The Lord has provided us with the amazing technology resources to aid us. We just need to choose to use them.
Jonathan Javid, is a full time audiologist at the Veteran’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. He is also the parent of 4 children and runs the online store AudiologySupplies.com.
My husband uses this every week, and has gotten others to try it. Our building has ours in basket on top of the hymnbook shelf in the overflow–I am not sure if they stay there all the time or get taken back to the media center after Sunday meetings. But much more convenient to grab on your way into the chapel.
But we also have a fair number of Spanish speakers listening to the translation through headphones as well, so no stigma for using a device.
I have used the Comtek device in the past and found it to be extremely helpful. For some reason our meetinghouse also had another system installed that functions with a teleloop system allowing sound to be transmitted directly from a microphone to a hearing aid (with a telecoil). When I discovered it I quit using the Comtek device because it was so much more convenient; merely switch to a different “program” on my hearing aids. About a year ago the teleloop system quit working. After inquiry as to what happened, I was told the teleloop system was removed because it was replaced it with a more up to date Comtek system and besides, no one was using the teleloop. I asked if the teleloop could be reinstalled because there were 3 people I knew of in our ward who relied on it because it is so much more convenient that having to have a separate receiver with earphones. The system was put back in within a week. As far as I can tell, our building is the only one that has that system. I really prefer it to the Comtek system
I used one of these for years when I was too ill with asthma and chemical sensitivities to go into the chapel (because of all the perfumes/hairspray/cologne). With it, I could sit just outside the building or sometimes in the hallway just outside of the chapel and listen to the talks. It was so nice to be able to participate in that way, instead of missing the meeting altogether.
I livein San clemente Stake in California and have not found anyone with knowledge of als tcoil systems in our buildings.
I would like to purchase my own receiver that will transmit directly into my hearing aids either through an iPhone app or direct to my hearing aids. My question is what model of Comtek do I buy, and how do I get it to transmit into my hearing aids. Does it take special hearing aids? I wear the Signia Insio 7AX ITC hearing aids