Open Forum

Hello! Our museum hosts several lectures and public speaker programs. We often have older adults in the audience who complain about the sound quality, so we are looking into the possibility of offering assistive listening devices. I used to work at a theatre that offered these but, other than that, have very little knowledge of their use/cost/etc.

Do any of you have these devices available at your museum for lecture-style programs? Are they are worth having? Can you explain how they work? Do you remember how much they cost and where you purchased them from?

Thanks in advance!

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Cara Scharf
Program and Communications Manager
Wagner Free Institute of Science
Philadelphia PA
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Cara, I looked back at what we paid for our Assisted Hearing devices. We ordered 12 devices with everything needed for it to function and the cost for just the hardware was $2000. We had to upgrade our Amp to support them so we had an additional cost. The installation was close to $1000. Since we are a state agency we are required to have ADA compliance. Honestly in the past 13 years of my working here we have had only 1 request to use it but it's here if it is needed. We purchased the upgraded devices about a year ago since the old system wasn't working 100%. This is what we got: https://www.listentech.com/assets/lr-4200-72-216_manual_v7_1_04_16.pdf Hope this helps in your search for Assisted Hearing devices.

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Alan Byler
AV / Lighting Technician
State Museum of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg PA
(717) 783-9913
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-12-2017 01:08 PM
From: Cara Scharf
Subject: Assistive Listening Devices

Hello! Our museum hosts several lectures and public speaker programs. We often have older adults in the audience who complain about the sound quality, so we are looking into the possibility of offering assistive listening devices. I used to work at a theatre that offered these but, other than that, have very little knowledge of their use/cost/etc.

Do any of you have these devices available at your museum for lecture-style programs? Are they are worth having? Can you explain how they work? Do you remember how much they cost and where you purchased them from?

Thanks in advance!

------------------------------
Cara Scharf
Program and Communications Manager
Wagner Free Institute of Science
Philadelphia PA
------------------------------

Hello Cara,

About five years ago we purchased assistive listening devices for our auditorium for the same reason: several audience complaints during lectures. We thought this would be a great solution and for the purpose of amplifying sound, they are a great solution and work well. However, we have found no one wants to use them. (Or very, very rarely at least.) The kind we have are like a small headset and we have found our audience members don't want to be "seen" using them. I would still say it was worth the investment, because now if we get a complaint we can offer the headset. If people choose not to use it that is their choice and we are offering an accommodation. I would recommend not purchasing very many initially to see what the audience response is.

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Laura Reznicek
Development Director
Sheldon Museum of Art University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln NE
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-12-2017 01:08 PM
From: Cara Scharf
Subject: Assistive Listening Devices

Hello! Our museum hosts several lectures and public speaker programs. We often have older adults in the audience who complain about the sound quality, so we are looking into the possibility of offering assistive listening devices. I used to work at a theatre that offered these but, other than that, have very little knowledge of their use/cost/etc.

Do any of you have these devices available at your museum for lecture-style programs? Are they are worth having? Can you explain how they work? Do you remember how much they cost and where you purchased them from?

Thanks in advance!

------------------------------
Cara Scharf
Program and Communications Manager
Wagner Free Institute of Science
Philadelphia PA
------------------------------

Original Message------

Hello Cara,

About five years ago we purchased assistive listening devices for our auditorium for the same reason: several audience complaints during lectures. We thought this would be a great solution and for the purpose of amplifying sound, they are a great solution and work well. However, we have found no one wants to use them. (Or very, very rarely at least.) The kind we have are like a small headset and we have found our audience members don't want to be "seen" using them. I would still say it was worth the investment, because now if we get a complaint we can offer the headset. If people choose not to use it that is their choice and we are offering an accommodation. I would recommend not purchasing very many initially to see what the audience response is.

------------------------------
Laura Reznicek
Development Director
Sheldon Museum of Art University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln NE
------------------------------