Plugged In: Wireless hearing-aid systems urged for Sacramento-area venues

It seems simple enough: Give people who wear hearing aids a WiFi-style boost that allows them to hear their TV sets without blasting other people out of the room.

The technology – an induction loop system – is in wide use in northern Europe but has barely made a blip in the United States, where 31 million people have impaired hearing.

Now a Sacramento audiologist is working on changing that. Julia Tanner, who practices in the Campus Commons area, says her patients love the system she has pushed for more than a year.

"Even with a mild hearing loss, which is getting more and more common as we age, hearing something that's across the room clearly is difficult," Tanner said. "As soon as we start introducing other things into the room – an air conditioner or fan noise – that's competing with the TV. ... Anything over eight to 10 feet away, the hearing aid doesn't really pick up."

Virgil Petrocchi, who is 92, has had his TV room "looped" for the past eight months.

"It's the greatest thing that's ever happened," said the Sacramento resident. "We're both (he and Faye, his wife of 68 years) hard of hearing, and it just works wonderfully."

The system employs technology that's long been used in telephones for the hard of hearing. For a TV or stereo system, a small transmitter (about twice the size of a deck of cards) plugs into the audio-out jack. From the transmitter, a thin wire is run in a circle around the room, usually under rugs or along baseboards.

This creates an electromagnetic field that sends the audio signal directly to the hearing aid when it is set to T, or telecoil. The telecoil acts as the receiver.

Tanner uses a system from Michigan-based Wireless Hearing Solutions that costs $185 and is easy to install. For those who want a professional to set it up, it's another $100.

The system is one of many that are coming of age just in time to help out the 44- to 62-year-old baby boomers, the first generation to grow up on loud rock music and stereo headphones, damaging the hearing of many at early ages. Fifteen percent of boomers suffer at least some hearing loss, according to the Better Hearing Institute.

With the induction loop system, Tanner has her sights set on a bigger stage: She wants loop systems installed in the Mondavi Center, Music Circus, other local arenas and movie theaters.

"You'll see when you go to the theater that little ear in the box office or corner that says 'assisted listening devices available,'" she said. "They often aren't working or other people have worn them or you feel a little self-conscious that you're drawing attention to yourself. If you had a telecoil, all you'd do is simply switch your hearing aid to that program."

She said it would require a more powerful system but that even a full-size theater could install one for about $1,000. For those without hearing aids, a Walkman-like device could pick up the signal.

The system works so well that Great Britain has installed them at ticket windows in the London Underground and in London taxis. They are also becoming more ubiquitous in Scandinavian countries, where more people wear hearing aids because the national health systems pick up the cost, unlike in the United States.

Geeks on Call in capital

The "geeks" over at Best Buy are getting some nationally based competition.

Geeks on Call, which helps consumers and small businesses with their computer-related problems, opened its first office in Sacramento last week.

The company, based in Norfolk, Va., has grown to more than 250 franchise locations in 24 states. It limits itself to computer-related services, while Best Buy's Geek Squad also works on home entertainment systems and other electronics.

The new guys on the block can be seen driving around in their midnight blue Chrysler PT Cruisers. For more information, go to www.geeksoncall.com.

Milestone for tax e-filing

2008 apparently will go down as the year that more than 10 million Californians filed their taxes electronically.

The Franchise Tax Board used Earth Day this week to announce that 9.6 million returns so far have been e-filed, and that another 500,000 are expected by the Oct. 15 extension deadline.

"State taxpayers saved nearly 90 million sheets of paper this year by filing their returns electronically," said State Controller John Chiang.

The 9.6 million sets a new record, exceeding last year's total by 10 percent, the board said.

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Mark Melnicoe, (916) 321-1976.