Jump to content

Assisted Listening Headset options


TeeJay

Recommended Posts

Hi all,

 

we are looking at replacing the current infra-red assisted listening/audio description set-up in one of our venues with a rf version and I'm wondering if anyone could recommend stethoset style headsets.

 

We've previously tried out the Tourguide 2020D system and like it but I do want to check that we aren't over looking a system from another provider.

 

I've looked at the webpages from Williams and Listen Tech and can only find beltpack style receivers. We know from our patrons that the stethoset versions are preferred - we also find them easier with regards upkeep. However, if someone can provide good reasons to switch to beltpack and separate headphones, we aren't dismissing them just yet

 

Your thoughts are welcome

 

Thanks in advance

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you having problems with your infra-red system that will be solved by moving to an rf system? I only ask because we've recently installed a Sennheiser infra-red system in our auditorium. We ended up putting one master IR transmitter above our prosc. arch, and half a dozen slave transmitters to cover the rear stalls, and rear circle. I always wondered if an RF system would be better as it wouldn't require clear line of sight between transmitters and receivers, but the system we have now seems to cover all seats quite well.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

While IR won't go through brick walls, it does bounce around a bit, just like visible light, so strict line-of-sight may not be necessary. A lot of the seats in our local playhouse are (deliberately) covered by reflections off the side walls.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Between the two transmission technologies, the digital signal over RF of the 2020D is perhaps a little easier to ensure good coverage than the IR system.

In terms of the receiver to listener technology, it depends a lot on the user, the level of their hearing loss and whether they use hearing aids.

 

When you refer to stethoscope versions, I presume you mean the earpiece tube section too, not just the fact that the receiver effectively is worn around the neck? (as Sennheiser's IR neck loop is).

 

Those who have some loss but no hearing aids may like stethoscope or small headsets. Some who have hearing aids but only mild to moderate loss might use the stethoscope in lieu of the aid. It's a personal choice, but not everyone will have compared the two approaches or know the difference.

Those who have moderate to severe, severe or profound loss will need the gain provided by their aid, and will most likely want an inductive neckloop.

 

The Sennheiser IR has a pendant receiver to use with its neckloop and the 2020D system has the beltpack with a neckloop available.

 

I would suggest have a mix of neckloop and stethoscope, whichever transmission system you use. One local venue invested in only stethoscope receivers and was not too chuffed when we advised them that this would not work for a large section of the hard of hearing community.

 

Hopefully, the assisted listening feed is mixed and managed from the audio desk, rather than derived from a mic hanging in the grid or prosc arch next to a noisy moving light and further away from the actor than the listener is? cool.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's probably worth mentioning that assisted listening using Voice Over IP and 'Bring Your Own Device' is now available.

There are benefits to be had if the user a) has a smart phone (or the venue provides a 'cheap' receiver) b) the user has a suitable means of getting smartphone audio to their ears/hearing aid. Not all will have a neckloop etc.

There can be issues with other patrons objecting to apparent mobile phone use during the performance, latency and battery use.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sennheiser have a product called Mobile Connect. This is a RF VoIP / WiFi solution. It allows for bring your own device, but has some great features including choice of 4 feeds and personalised EQ.

 

We have installed this in several venues with great results.

 

We (Enlightened www.enlx.co.uk) are sennheiser dealers and have a demo unit if you are interested. Get in touch with our sales team, sales@enlx.co.uk.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sennheiser have a product called Mobile Connect. This is a RF VoIP / WiFi solution. It allows for bring your own device, but has some great features including choice of 4 feeds and personalised EQ.

 

We have installed this in several venues with great results.

 

We (Enlightened www.enlx.co.uk) are sennheiser dealers and have a demo unit if you are interested. Get in touch with our sales team, sales@enlx.co.uk.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the replies so far - I'm rolling the various questions into a bit of prose rather than dedicated quotes

 

Our current infra-red system does have issues covering the space.

 

The roof is pretty low at the back on all three levels of seating which means that getting IR transmitters to a point where they cover the seats without impacting on sightlines to the stage is an issue. And the seats closest to the stage are close enough that again getting angles to properly hit receivers is a problem. This is actually something that has got worse - the original design of stethosets headsets had two receiver 'bulbs' protruding which actually made mounting the radiators at steep side angles entirely possible (I think these were RI150?) - the current RI832 has the IR receiver with the dial and it's much easier to obscure.

 

Ours walls have a perforated grid pattern and there isn't much reflection.

 

We have a few of the personal neck loops on the current IR system and honestly these never get requested, or picked up. Whatever system we end up with, I'd like to have a couple of personal loop receivers available certainly, but they aren't a focus as we don't (currently) have that demand from patrons requiring hearing assist. It's worth noting that we see more use during audio described performances than for general AL use so patrons could be blind and/or deaf so this may be a factor as to why stethosets seem most popular here.

 

The audio show relay in the particular venue is a pair of mics, one to each side of the pros and running into a pre-amp then into our processing unit to be sent around the building. This includes a feed to an (normally unmanned) mixer that feeds two channels for assisted listening (one for permanent AL and one that is switched over to audio description when needed). The majority of shows coming in will bring their own engineer (and sometimes their own desk) so dedicating an out for AL purposes is sadly not possible.

 

We've tried the Mobile Connect system and we are not fans. As well as the issues mentioned (latency, battery life, apparent phone usage) there is also issues in onsite technical support - suddenly your ushers/technicians need to know how to operate a variety of mobile phones (and remember that if they have issues with sight, the layout can be very different to a 'standard' phone OS. We can see uses for some fo the festivals/site specific shows that form part of our artistic output but not for our core programme of works, at least not in it's current layout.

Wifi receivers are more appealing but it's our general policy to move away from Wifi where possible - that part of the EM spectrum is already very cluttered and it'll only likely get more so.

 

tl:dr

I'm still interested to know if anyone can think of stethosets receiver systems that aren't Sennheiser as I haven't yet seen anything on that

Link to comment
Share on other sites

TeeJay,

 

I can't recall having seen stethoscopes offered by other manufacturers - but to be fair as most of the assisted listening stuff I do is for deaf/hard of hearing rather than audio description, it may be that I simply wasn't looking!

 

If you were wanting to upgrade an IR system, I'd suggest looking at the Listen Technologies gear (sold by Ampetronic in the UK). Their receivers seem to work much better than Sennheiser's and I believe are also compatible with the latter's transmitters. The Listen transmitter devices have excellent coverage, but I think all their receivers are beltpacks with neckloop/headsets - so sadly not what you need.

 

To be honest, I suspect the Sennheiser 2020D system ticks the most boxes for you. With two transmitters you could have ALS and AD running together, and the receivers are available in both stethoscope and neckloop/headset versions. I have tested coverage in the local velodrome and couldn't get far enough away inside the building to induce a dropout...

 

With regards to having a desk mix for ALS rather than a (usually ineffective!) overhead mic, I know that most engineers say "this can't be done". Some don't want another task or HoH people complaining to them. Some just say "there aren't enough outputs on the desk". I suspect if they were asked to provide a cue feed to an IEM they'd happily do it. An ALS mix shouldn't even be as onerous, and can make things so much better for ALS users.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brian,

 

I usually suggest that ALS mixes are very heavily speech or vocal dominated. If it's theatre, I'd send the headset mics but go easy on fx/tracks etc. and would avoid background sounds which could mask or percussive stuff which could pump the AGC or compressor.

 

For simple church PA (I install a few of these) a speech mic only system could connect to an ALS from the main aux out.

 

For a modern church with band etc., I dedicate an aux for the ALS, and make channel sends post fade, so that they drop out of the mix if not in use. Again, I make the mix predominantly speech only, with perhaps guide instruments in there but no real low frequency stuff (hearings aids have fairly aggressive HP filters) and no percussion.

For lecture theatres etc. I try wherever possible to get a radio mic on the talker, and not use the ceiling mounted mic that every AV firm seems to routinely stick in mad.gif.

 

In any situation, I try to keep something running through the ALS (keep a mic open or run pre-show music) so that it's clear that the system is working as soon as users come in, rather than discover it doesn't work at curtain up.

 

There are some issues to highlight...

  • Everyone's hearing loss and coping strategy is different, so the degree of help needed varies too. It helps to ask what the user finds beneficial.
  • It's not just about level (although that's needed). It's mainly about increasing the ratio of wanted sound (speech) to unwanted sound (background noise, masking noise and reverberation). The person with hearing loss cannot do the fantastic trick that those of us with normal hearing can do without thinking... selectively listen to wanted speech in the presence of unwanted noise. This is why having a sound engineer listen to a mic placed over the stage, whapping up the gain and pronouncing speech to be 'clear as a bell' simply doesn't work for those with more severe loss. We can hear speech clearly against background noise and reverberation. The aid user can't.
  • Whilst fully understanding where TeeJay is coming from with his needs for Audio Description, hearing aid users won't usually want stethoscopes. They need their aid to perform the specific frequency response correction, high level of amplification and multiband limiting that the audiologist has set. Some users need 90dB or more at the eardrum to be able to hear. The aid is optimised to deliver this so a neck loop and telecoil setting on the aid makes the most sense for connecting to an ALS.
  • There's a tendency for audio people to want the adjustments for those with disabilities to be automatic. A mic over the stage feeding an always on IR transmitter (which may well burn out over the years) with receiving hardware handled by FOH staff means 'set and forget' for tech crew. Sadly, this doesn't optimise the listening experience for deaf patrons.

 

Sorry for the long reply...

 

TL:DR - ask the user what they need, improve the signal to noise ratio...

 

Simon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One other point...

 

ALS in cinema (and sometimes domestic systems for TV) can fail to help those with more severe hearing loss, simply because speech in the soundtrack is dominated by music, background or effects.

The ALS can't really help extract wanted speech when it is mixed low or dominated by other sounds, especially when diction is not clear.

The same is often true for those not using ALS or not using hearing aids... they struggle to hear speech in typical films and TV drama.

 

There is, however, work being done towards object based audio, which may at some point soon allow the end user to determine the relative levels of speech to other objects in the broadcast mix.

It would be great if a similar approach could be considered for cinema.

 

The University of Salford are involved in some pretty interesting research on this...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a simple person, can I ask why these systems are used instead of using a hearing aid loop?

 

Sound from a hearing aid loop is poor quality compared to a direct infrared or RF system. The audio frequency range is quite limited and in a large room the coverage can be quite variable, also the sound changes in strange ways as you move the receiver so you might find you have to sit with your head at a funny angle to get a good sound, or some seats have a very poor signal.

Also a loop causes all sorts of problems with other AV systems, you get pickup into instruments and transformer DIs, hum bars on video, etc.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.