Educational Hearing Loop Conference is a Huge Success! By Eloise Schwarz

Over 100 attendees flooded the registration tables at the Educational Hearing Loop Conference in Appleton on April 2. Organized & hosted by HLAA- Fox Valley Chapter & chaired by former HLAA-WI board president Julie Olson, the day was packed with panel discussions, testimonials, keynote speeches , trainings, an award presentation, door prizes, and lots of good questions & answers. Five states were represented at the conference, Ohio, Michigan, Arizona, New Mexico and Wisconsin!

The setting was looped so that all attendees with telecoil equipped hearing instruments were able to experience the hearing loop. Hearing aids with telecoils were available for those who wished to try the technology; and they were gladly accepted.

The day began with testimonials by 4 hard of hearing people who shared their experience with loops. Two were new users who defined their first encounter with this technology as life changing, or as a wow moment.

The Keynote Address was shared by Dr Dave Myers, PhD and Juliette Sterkens, AuD. Their passionate and focused talk on hearing loop technology took us on a journey of comparison between countries [Great Britain and US] along with what is being done here in Wisconsin.

The audience of audiologists, AV installers, hearing instrument dispensers, Loop vendors, venue personnel, hard of hearing people with family members, and others was provided with user-friendly information about hearing loops along with the history of the development and application of the technology. We also learned where hearing loops can be found in Wisconsin. ( LINK TO SITE) Expansion of hearing loops across WI was the goal of the conference.

Lou Touchette, an HLAA member from Arizona, taught a 2 classes on How to Build a Home Loop system. Both classes were full to the brim. Lunch time provided time to network, talk to loop vendors, & form new relationships. The day passed by too fast for most of us.

The afternoon started with the presentation of a special HLAA-WI Board award, which was given to LeRoy Max Maxfield & Juliette Sterkens, AuD for their efforts to promote hearing loops. Max has operated pretty much under the radar, but is Juliettes sidekick (and spouse) who as a retired engineer, has the expertise to build and install hearing loops. Juliette has received several commendations from a variety of groups. HLAA-WI recognizes them both, but Max especially for his dedication to this cause. Together, they own Fox Valley Hearing Loop LLC.

The afternoon program then began with a panel - this time with Installers of Loops. These vendors provided insights, answers to our questions, as well as confirmation of the importance of their roles and the standards applicable to installing hearing loops. It was especially interesting to hear about why they became interested in this technology. Most of them had stories of hard of hearing people close to them who added inspiration. We came away from this experience with hope for more growth and enthusiasm to plan and hold more Educational Loop Conferences in other parts of the state.

With all of the materials and information gathered, it was difficult to end the event. The summary and closing remarks provided all of us with confidence that indeed we will succeed in our initiative to Loop Wisconsin, but we cannot do this alone. More HLAA members need to get involved.

Thank you to everyone who came to the conference. Thanks to the speakers, vendors, planners and workers who made this event possible. Kudos to Fox Valley Chapter members who spent hours on advance PR and planning, room set up, kitchen duty, registration, clean up, and much more.

If you were not there...you missed something special! It was a great experience!

Lets do it again!!!!

NOTE: The model for holding a conference such as this is available from the HLAA Chapter in Appleton. These conferences should be held in other areas of Wisconsin and in other states. Please let us know if you would like further information.

The HLAA-WI Spring Board meeting was held the evening prior to the Loop Conference. Attendees are pictured above.

Over 100 People Came to Learn!

Many thanks to our lovely captioner, Margo. You can see her working hard in this photo. You can see the results of her realtime captioning in the other photos.

Testimony about the value of hearing loops was provided by Deb, Dave & Gene. Deb has been advocating for hearing loops for years. Dave and Gene learned about loops from HLAA, just recently.

Dave & Gene are both retired teachers. They learned about hearing loops only recently & are both astounded at how effective this technology is, and were eager to share their enthusiasm.

Dave explains what loops mean to him.

Gene takes the mike to share his experience with hearing loops.

Val & Dave Hankes share a happy moment with Julie Olson, the conference chairperson. Everyone was pleased at how well the conference went.

We would like to see events like this held in other parts of the state. Please let us know if you would like to plan one. Perhaps our 'model' would help you get started. Click HERE to contact us.