{"id":40474,"date":"2018-05-24T12:58:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-24T19:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/?p=40474"},"modified":"2018-05-24T12:58:00","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T19:58:00","slug":"stay-in-the-loop-hear-it-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/stay-in-the-loop-hear-it-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Stay in the Loop; Hear it All"},"content":{"rendered":"

As part of the acoustic upgrades taking place during Town Hall\u2019s renovation, we\u2019re permanently installing the Hearing Loop system in all three of our performance spaces. To give us a better idea of how a Hearing Loop works\u2014as well as how this critical system supports members of our community who experience hearing loss\u2014we turn to Mike James, who serves on Town Hall\u2019s Board of Directors. Mike spoke with Town Hall\u2019s Alexander Eby about his history with hearing loss, and shared all the reasons why he passionately supports the Hearing Loop\u2019s installation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Town Hall\u2019s platform is built on the idea that everyone deserves to be heard<\/strong>\u2014and for audience members like Mike James, this philosophy has never been more literal. Mike has lived with hearing loss since his late 30\u2019s. Though his hearing aids are sufficient for smaller events, he\u2019s encountered difficulty fully engaging with the lectures and performances he loves when they\u2019re held in larger halls. But Mike is still a frequent visitor to Town Hall\u2019s events, and he\u2019s been able to fully experience our programming thanks to our Hearing Loop system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fortunate enough to live right across the street from Town Hall,\u201d Mike explains. He regularly attends Town Hall\u2019s programs, and the Hearing Loop has enabled him to participate on any given night in impassioned community conversations, civic discussions, and science lectures. \u201cThe beauty of the Hearing Loop system is that it just\u2026happens. You can sit down in the audience along with everyone else, and the sound from the event is transmitted directly to your hearing aids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hearing Loop systems wirelessly transmit sound through microphones on the stage<\/strong>, transforming hearing aids fitted with telecoil receivers\u2014like the ones Mike wears\u2014into in-the-ear loudspeakers. \u201cIt\u2019s the quality of the sound that\u2019s the most significant thing. You\u2019re hearing the program with your<\/em> hearing aids, so it\u2019s adjusted specifically for your own levels of hearing loss. You can clearly hear what\u2019s going on onstage, and at the same time you can be a part of the discussions going on around you.\u201d<\/p>\n

From his position on Town Hall\u2019s Board of Directors, Mike has enthusiastically supported the permanent installation of the Hearing Loop system in Town Hall\u2019s performance spaces. For other audience members experiencing hearing loss, this could make all the difference in the world. \u201cA lot of people like me gave up on going to the theater or attending lectures because of the difficulty of hearing. That\u2019s really overcome with the loop.\u201d<\/p>\n

To support audience members like Mike, we\u2019re permanently outfitting our Great Hall, Downstairs, and the new West Room with their own Hearing Loop systems<\/strong> as part of Town Hall\u2019s historic renovation. Accessibility is core to Town Hall\u2019s design, and the Hearing Loop is a critical part of ensuring that members of our community who experience hearing loss will remain a part of the discussion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was born in England, and I have relatives there. We\u2019ve traveled together throughout Europe, and found that Hearing Loop systems over there are common. At museums, box offices\u2014you name it, all of that is looped.\u201d Town Hall is inspired by this broad accessibility, and we\u2019re excited to be among the first organizations in our region to offer this technology to our community. \u201cThe great thing about Town Hall is that they\u2019re one of the first institutions in Seattle to really pioneer this. It\u2019s a tremendously positive change, and a real asset to Town Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Please consider making a donation to the project here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As part of the acoustic upgrades taking place during Town Hall\u2019s renovation, we\u2019re permanently installing the Hearing Loop system in all three of our performance spaces. To give us a better idea of how a Hearing Loop works\u2014as well as how this critical system supports members of our community who experience hearing loss\u2014we turn to Mike James, who serves on Town Hall\u2019s Board of Directors. Mike spoke with Town Hall\u2019s Alexander Eby about his history with hearing loss, and shared all the reasons why he passionately supports the Hearing Loop\u2019s installation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Town Hall\u2019s platform is built on the idea that everyone deserves to be heard<\/strong>\u2014and for audience members like Mike James, this philosophy has never been more literal. Mike has lived with hearing loss since his late 30\u2019s. Though his hearing aids are sufficient for smaller events, he\u2019s encountered difficulty fully engaging with the lectures and performances he loves when they\u2019re held in larger halls. But Mike is still a frequent visitor to Town Hall\u2019s events, and he\u2019s been able to fully experience our programming thanks to our Hearing Loop system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fortunate enough to live right across the street from Town Hall,\u201d Mike explains. He regularly attends Town Hall\u2019s programs, and the Hearing Loop has enabled him to participate on any given night in impassioned community conversations, civic discussions, and science lectures. \u201cThe beauty of the Hearing Loop system is that it just\u2026happens. You can sit down in the audience along with everyone else, and the sound from the event is transmitted directly to your hearing aids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hearing Loop systems wirelessly transmit sound through microphones on the stage<\/strong>, transforming hearing aids fitted with telecoil receivers\u2014like the ones Mike wears\u2014into in-the-ear loudspeakers. \u201cIt\u2019s the quality of the sound that\u2019s the most significant thing. You\u2019re hearing the program with your<\/em> hearing aids, so it\u2019s adjusted specifically for your own levels of hearing loss. You can clearly hear what\u2019s going on onstage, and at the same time you can be a part of the discussions going on around you.\u201d<\/p>\n

From his position on Town Hall\u2019s Board of Directors, Mike has enthusiastically supported the permanent installation of the Hearing Loop system in Town Hall\u2019s performance spaces. For other audience members experiencing hearing loss, this could make all the difference in the world. \u201cA lot of people like me gave up on going to the theater or attending lectures because of the difficulty of hearing. That\u2019s really overcome with the loop.\u201d<\/p>\n

To support audience members like Mike, we\u2019re permanently outfitting our Great Hall, Downstairs, and the new West Room with their own Hearing Loop systems<\/strong> as part of Town Hall\u2019s historic renovation. Accessibility is core to Town Hall\u2019s design, and the Hearing Loop is a critical part of ensuring that members of our community who experience hearing loss will remain a part of the discussion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was born in England, and I have relatives there. We\u2019ve traveled together throughout Europe, and found that Hearing Loop systems over there are common. At museums, box offices\u2014you name it, all of that is looped.\u201d Town Hall is inspired by this broad accessibility, and we\u2019re excited to be among the first organizations in our region to offer this technology to our community. \u201cThe great thing about Town Hall is that they\u2019re one of the first institutions in Seattle to really pioneer this. It\u2019s a tremendously positive change, and a real asset to Town Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Please consider making a donation to the project here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40477,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,14,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-stage","category-editorial","category-renovation-update"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}