People who hear an uplifting sermon in places of worship are likely to walk out feeling hopeful and at peace. Sometimes walking alongside, I used to feel adrift or even despair. Places of worship are difficult spaces for people with hearing loss. The gorgeous marble altars, vaulted ceilings and tiled floors cause sound to bounce around a great deal. This can make the organ sound magnificent. However, it can take the struggle to make out words from difficult to downright impossible. Fortunately, I’ve discovered how to channel the words I want to hear directly to my ears. Now I walk out with those same feelings of hope and peace as everyone else. Listening systems in places of worship are important and often not that hard to achieve. It takes some basic tools and mainly advocacy.
Last summer a young priest from Nigeria came to serve as associate pastor of our church. He is a humble and grateful man, wise beyond his years, with a perspective so refreshingly different from my own. Unfortunately, the reverberation combined with his accent make it impossible for some people to understand his sermons. For months I would sit in church and get angry at God. I asked Him “why don’t you want me to hear this message of faith?” Afterwards, in the car on the way home, I would pepper my family with questions. “What did he say about the time his little sister was sick?” “What were you all laughing about near the end of his talk?” Fortunately, my family is very patient with me and they’ve sharpened their recall skills!
Places of worship are difficult spaces for people with hearing loss. The gorgeous marble altars, vaulted ceilings and tiled floors cause sound to bounce around a great deal.
Recently this priest spoke of struggle and how it can make us stronger. He used the example of a caterpillar. A caterpillar works so hard in the cocoon before it emerges as a butterfly with strong wings. I remember this story because it was the first time I could hear every word! No, although I’ve tried, this was not a miracle of restored hearing. This was the benefit of parishioners from a retirement community just down the road. These people know how to speak up for their needs! Consequently, they explained their frustrations and the church installed a listening system for people with hearing loss.
There was a lot of excitement to use this system and also confusion. Many people took a receiver from the church entrance and used it with the supplied earbuds. Some people had a noticeable improvement. However, others did not benefit as much as hoped. They need their hearing aids to process sound and earbuds don’t do enough. In this case, neckloops enable use of the system with hearing aids. However, there must be an active telecoil in the hearing aids. Most people don’t know what a telecoil is and if they have one. Basically, the telecoil (t-coil) is a small coil of copper that receives audio from a special “loop” system. It provides a very clear audio signal straight to the hearing aids without all the background noise. Audiologists should understand this benefit and educate people about telecoils.
The important point here is to speak up so your place of worship installs a listening system. Hearing accessibility in places of worship is lacking. Please take the first and most important step. Experience church the way everyone else does. Above all, bring more hope and peace to your life and to those around you with hearing loss.