Hearing Loss LIVE! Talks with Listen Technologies

Transcript

Hearing Loss LIVE! Talks with Listen Technologies.

Julia: Hello, welcome to Hearing Loss LIVE! This week, we sit down with Listen Technologies, who is an assistive listening device company that helps people with a hearing loss, especially in open venues out in the public. I first met Listen Technologies, oh gosh, when was our first Walk4Hearing? Oh my heavens, maybe 2008, 2009. So, 2010, wow. And they were a huge contributor to helping us have a successful Walk4Hearing that first year and following years. We have with us, Amanda Nielsen and Cody Hall, both from Listen Technologies, they are going to introduce themselves and talk a little about Listen Technologies, and their latest, which I've already forgot the name, their latest product called Listen EVERYWHERE. Who would like to start, Cody or Amanda?

Amanda: I'll start. My name is Amanda Nielsen, and I'm the content marketing manager at Listen Technologies, and I've just been there just a little over a year. Go ahead, Cody.

Cody Hall: All right. Yeah. Thank you for having us. I'm Cody Hall. I'm product manager here at Listen Technologies. I've been here for a combined 14 years, couple stints here at Listen. I love it here. I love being able to provide equipment that helps people to hear and enrich their lives. So, it's great to be here today.

Julia: Thank you. Amanda, do you want to share your slides and talk about Listen Technologies?

Amanda: Thank you. Yes. How do we do? Okay. You can see screen now, right? So, Listen Technologies was founded in 1998 by our founder, Russell Gentner, and he actually is also part of hearing, wears a hearing aid, and he really founded the company so that he could find ways to innovate in the assistive listening industry. He noticed that a lot of the technology hadn't really changed for years, and so, he started in order to start innovating and making experiences better for people with hearing loss.

Amanda: I will go to the next slide. So I just wanted to talk a little bit about some of the different technologies of assistive listening that you'll find in the industry. If you go to a venue, we offer these different product lines. So, ListenRF, which is great radio frequency. And ListenRF is unique in that Listen Technologies offers radio frequency in both 72 megahertz and 216 megahertz. And what this means is that in the 216 megahertz, we actually can cover very large venues. So, if you go to a large stadium, you can use the same receiver. You may have had the experience where they had to figure out where you were sitting to give you the right receiver. And with our ListenRF, there's no need to coordinate where you're sitting with your receiver, it covers the entire stadium. So, very large coverage areas. So for example, Seattle Seahawks, the Dallas Cowboys' stadium, both of those use Listen Technologies, assistive listening systems.

ListenIR, which is infrared, so that's just like your remote control, and that light that goes from your remote to your TV to change the channel or hit the volume that is infrared light. And that is really great for things like courtrooms. One of the things that comes with infrared technology is the security, because it is line of sight secure. So you receive the sound with the light, and if you're outside of the room, you can't access the audio for that room. So that's great for, like I said, courtrooms, medical settings, anywhere where security is, you want to keep the sound secure.

And we also offer a little bit of a different product called ListenTALK, and that's a one-way or two-way group communication system that allows you to hear in difficult hearing environments. And ListenTALK really actually has three very powerful uses. So, there's group communication. Think about taking a small tour of a manufacturing plant in a difficult hearing environment, ListenTALK provides clear audio directly to users, and because it's one-way or two-way, people have the flexibility to set it up for either just listening or you can have a group of people and that can ask questions. So it's great for tours, training, communicating with masks in difficult hearing situations like that. So for example, Duracell Batteries has implemented ListenTALK at the beginning of the pandemic so that their employees could remain physically distant for safety, but also still clearly hear and communicate with each other. It's also a very powerful, portable assistive listening system, so if you have situations, for example, a courtroom, again, a courtroom is a great example of ways that you can use these for sidebar conversations. Anything that needs to be heard clearly, but still maintain space or overcome other hearing obstacles like masks, distance, anything like that, right?

And then we have Listen EVERYWHERE, which is our audio over wifi product that Cody is going to go into more detail, so I won't tell you too much about that, but it's really just accessing audio via wifi streaming, right? And then we have Listen NAVILUTION, and Listen NAVILUTION is a tour product that is actually GPS-triggered content. So you can either hop-on, hop-off type tours, or guided tours on either boats, trains, planes, anything you want, GPS-triggered content. You record the content, so a story about an interesting place, and then your guests use the audio and listen to the audio, and it's automatically triggered as you travel around what you're touring. So those are our product lines, and now I am going to turn it over to Cody to talk about Listen EVERYWHERE.

Cody Hall: Yeah. Thanks, Amanda. That's a good introduction to our five product lines that we sell here at Listen. Starting back in probably 2012 or so, we started to hear, this is before we had Listen EVERYWHERE, which, like Amanda said, is an audio over wifi streaming solution, back in 2012 we started to hear a lot about, "Why can't I just use my own personal device? Why do I need to go to the front desk at a venue or at a museum? Why do I need to go check out a device when I got one in my hand, why can't you send it to my phone?" And so really that was what the industry was asking for was a lot of audio over wifi type solution.

So, we went through a couple generations of product. In 2014, we launched our ListenWiFi solution, and through multiple evolutions of that product and figuring out what works and what doesn't work and really catering it for the user, here we are in 2022 with a really cool Listen EVERYWHERE solution, an audio over wifi solution. So, let's talk about kind of what Listen EVERYWHERE is in general and the applications that we see customers where they require an audio over wifi type solution as compared to some of those other solutions like ListenRF and ListenIR.

So, Listen EVERYWHERE is the, like I said, audio over wifi streaming solution, and it's done to your smartphone. So, guests don't have to stop by the front desk, they can just use their own smartphone. The only requirement is they have to download an app to receive the audio. This system is great for applications such as assistive listening, language interpretation, or video wall, TV listening, things like gyms, casinos, houses of worship, we sell a ton in houses of worship, theaters, conference centers, bars, schools, the list goes on and on where really it can fit. It's one of the most asked for solutions that I think we offer here at Listen. It's grown in popularity tremendously with the smartphone.

With that being said, I also want to mention like what Chelle's done. We got her a server here a couple months ago, and she's actually using it in her own living room. So, that's another application. Listen EVERYWHERE just simply provides a method to send audio over any wifi network, whether that be at home, at school, any existing wifi network, you simply plug our server into the network, or your home router, whatever it may be, or a network switch, and plug the audio into that server, and now you're streaming audio channels over that specific network, wherever you may be. So this can be ideal for any hard of hearing individuals, or even say, it's, you don't want to disturb your partner while they're maybe sleeping and you're watching TV. So really, there's a wide range of applications for Listen EVERYWHERE.

So, I kind of gave you an overview there of how the system works. Like I said, it's very simple and straightforward. You simply plug that server using a Cat 5 cable, plug it into your router at home, we all have a Cat 5 connection or otherwise known as an ethernet connection. You just plug that server right into your router, and inject the audio in just like you would a VCR or any other type of AV equipment used in RCA cables, or we support professional balanced lines for more professional applications like at theaters and in the professional AV world. And then our users just download the Listen EVERYWHERE app, it's free on our Play Store, or on the Play Stores, the Play Store and App Store, I should say, and you download it, and the app will find those channels on the network, and make it accessible to the users. So, it's really, really simple to set up and use. Can we go to the next slide there, Amanda? You can't figure it out?

Amanda: Yes. Just a second. Oh my goodness.

Cody Hall: While she's doing that, I'll just talk about the Listen EVERYWHERE. We do here at Listen, we understand, Listen EVERYWHERE is an important piece of the future. Being an audio over wifi solution with what we call BYOD, bring your own device, it's very much asked for and requested here for people to just use their own personal smartphone. So we do view it as a big piece of the future of assistive listening because of that power of just bringing your own device. So, let's talk about some of the advantages of using Listen EVERYWHERE. We just hit on one, I don't have to ask for a device at the front desk, right? We can just simply walk right in. There's no stigma associated to asking for a device, using the device, everyone's already on their phones, they're already connected with their phones, and so, it just makes sense to use their phone.

The other one that I hit it on is it uses your existing network. So, once again, wherever you have wifi, you have coverage for assistive listening, which, when you kind of compare that to some of the other technologies, that's not necessarily true, you're within a limited range. Sometimes that's on purpose, like with ListenIR, you don't want it to leave the room, and that's where it's very powerful, and confidential, and secure in that way. But if you're trying to get maximum coverage in a space, we're already covering it with wifi, right? Every building, it seems like in the world, has wifi that's being put in, or they want to put it in and have that full coverage everywhere we go, so it makes sense in that way to use the existing wifi network.

iOS and Android. So we support, like I said, iOS and Android, and it's free. It's a free app, you download, there's no charge, we're not going to prompt you for any payment, it's free to the user. So, the only thing that's required to purchase is the venue has to just buy a server, they're very low-cost, budget-friendly, buy a single server that would be plugged in, like we talked about, and kept at your facility. And they range from, I probably should have brought one to show, they range from a little box that's much smaller than a VCR, it's probably even smaller than a toaster, it's just a small little box you would throw in. And they range to a full rack mountable multi-channel unit, so, we have multiple different variants of those servers. That's the only requirement, like I said, the app is free. And in regards to the app, we all know there's updates that are constantly coming to iOS and Android, and Listen has been committed and will continue to be, every time there's a new Android update, iOS update, we are on top of that, and we work with Apple and Google to make sure we're ready when those updates hit, that were fully compatible, and we're able to deliver that same great experience for the end user.

Another cool thing that we launched, I think it's been about a year ago now, is private channels. So, for applications where they want security and the confidentiality or privacy, we can password protect channels, so that, say a student at a higher education institution, they have to put in a passcode in order to access that audio channel. So kind of a cool, neat feature the market was asking for that we've added in. And you can set one, or all, or many, they can have the same password, different passwords, it's really flexible the way we did that. So the private channels is a cool feature.

The next one there on the list, low latency, is important, and I wanted to spend a minute and talk about this. Latency, let's start with what is latency, latency is the time it takes for the audio to be sent to our server, go over the network to your smartphone, your smartphone to process it, put it out into your earpiece to be transmitted back to sound waves into your ear. How much time does that all take? It's not instantaneous. And so, there's always some amount of delay no matter what technology we're talking about. With Listen EVERYWHERE, we want customers to know it is low latency, and we want you to try it out yourself. We even have a video on our website, you can check out, but with Listen EVERYWHERE, we have great lip sync, it's virtually imperceptible.

So, that is important for real time audio, and that's another reason we use your local wifi network. We don't go out to the internet and come back because it would be a second behind, two seconds behind. We don't do that, we keep it local, because we're focused on that low latency audio, real time audio, which is important. It's important not... for strain, and I'm sure the hard of hearing community is even more so with lip sync reading, Chelle, correct me if I'm wrong, but I would think that would be even more important within the hard of hearing community. So yeah, low latency is important. And then, like we said, no checking out devices. You can simply walk in... Yeah, go ahead, Chelle. Oh, you're just saying, yeah.

Chelle: I'm sorry. I was just going, yay, because I love not checking out devices and returning them, that takes up so much time. So, that's just awesome to me.

Cody Hall: Yeah. No standing in line, no happened to go back upstream through everybody trying to leave a facility to return it to the front desk, right? It is a nice thing. And then the sanitariness of it is nice too, right? We don't have to worry, especially with COVID and everything, it is nice not to have to worry about what germs, or did it get cleaned properly? Someone else has been touching this, I'm just simply using my own smartphone, so that is a huge thing.

Another really cool thing with Listen EVERYWHERE, and some customers use it, some don't, but it is a tool that we've offered, another free tool, I should mention, is we have what we call our cloud services tool that allows you to completely customize that mobile app. If you don't want it to say, Listen EVERYWHERE on there, you don't have to have it say Listen EVERYWHERE, you could have it say, Chelle's living room. You could have your own photos on the app. You can change the color, the themes, you could upload PDF documents of... whatever you want, it's really customizable and flexible, and we've created a cool tool to customize that app. So, I did want to mention that, because it is a cool feature, and no one else has really done that out there to the extent that we have. So, we're pretty proud of that.

And then the last thing, which is really big, is Listen EVERYWHERE is compatible with your existing t-coil or telecoil and Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids. As we know, 85% of major smartphones are hearing aid compatible and then that number is growing. And so, that is an important statistic. And basically that means if you receive audio on your smartphone, you're going to get it to your hearing aid, right? So we now have that connection there, the odds are... And we offer two connection methods and I wanted to talk about each of those. So, the first one being that, that telecoil, and I'm sure Chelle, and Julia, and you guys are aware of the telecoil operation. For those that don't, telecoil is an inductive, in the hearing aid, you can flip a switch or sometimes it's programed that way to pick up an inductive field to the audio to go into the hearing aid.

And so, with our Listen EVERYWHERE system, you got your phone, how do I get it to that telecoil? Well, we offer, here at Listen, and have for a number of years, what we call a neckloop, an inductive neckloop. Simply put it around your neck, and plug this in, and it can plug into any device. It's a typical eight-inch jack, 3.5 millimeter jack that you plug into your smartphone or anything, and now it's telecoil-compatible. So, that is an important accessory. And it's also important for the ADA, the ADA does require that. You have to have a certain percentage of neckloops for each receiver. And we can talk about the receivers here in a minute, but the neckloop is an important piece of that because that is so important for people with hearing aids. Traditionally, telecoils have been around for years and years, it's a very old technology, but it is written in the ADA that neckloops have to be provided. So, we're proud to say, Listen EVERYWHERE still supports that telecoil functionality.

The other one is Bluetooth, and this one's been growing like crazy over the last decade or so, and especially the last few years with a lot of modern hearing aids are Bluetooth-capable, and already connected into people's smartphones. So odds are, if you're a hearing aid user, you probably got a device that you're already connected to. And so, that just makes it that much easier. So you don't have to worry about a telecoil at all now, and you get better audio quality with Bluetooth as well. So, simply download our app, receive the audio over wifi, and you're already connected to that hearing aid high quality, high fidelity audio. So, any audio on your device is sent to your hearing aid. So, those two pieces of compatibility are huge both for the ADA and for the hard of hearing community.

And with that, we've reached the end of my list on that. Yeah, then we got one more slide, it looks like. So, I'll sum up the end user experience here, it's simple, right? You download the app, you walk in, not check out a device, walk in, sit down, launch that app. Well, you will have to connect to the venue's wifi network, if you've been there before, your phone will automatically do that, launch the app, it will automatically find channels on the network, and I simply select a channel within the app and I'm now streaming right to my hearing aid or through my ear speaker or whatever it may be that I have connected to it. So, it's really that easy.

And then I did want to mention that we offer signage. As you mentioned, signage is important. It is very important that we advertise this at venues, right? That, hey, we have assistive listening available, download the app, step one, two, three, connect to the wifi, choose your desired channel. So, we have posters, and that's what this slide here is showing some posters, table tents, window clings, I think is also in that kit. And so, it's important to advertise to people to know that assistive listening service is provided. Any questions on any of that, that we want to talk about? I do want to jump into the ADA, but I wanted to pause for a minute, and that was a lot, so I want to give us a chance to catch up here before we do.

Julia: Thank you, Cody. This is Julia, and I am going to have two questions, and I also want to have time to talk about how involved with the community you are, because you guys are stellar with nationwide community advocacy with hearing loss. But Chelle, I want you to give a quick synopsis because I know you've been trying this Listen EVERYWHERE and I want to hear your thoughts on it, and I do have two simple questions after she's done.

Chelle: Chelle's living room. Listen EVERYWHERE is really awesome. I also have a hearing loop in my living room, which I've used, and what I liked about the Listen EVERYWHERE is that there's some metal interference in my living room. So I get that teeny-tiny hum that comes in the hearing loop, and we really couldn't get over that with the simple loop design we have. When I walk into another room and outside of the loop area, it's like all audio pretty much stops and it goes into a major hum in other parts of the house. So I've never been able to use the loop outside of the loop. So, when I got to try the Listen EVERYWHERE, I don't have Bluetooth hearing aids, I have old hearing aids, I cannot connect with them, so I'm just listening with ear buds. And I like to do that, I like to practice listening because it keeps my brain recognizing sounds, and words, and stuff, so, I do that every chance I get.

I had Listen EVERYWHERE on and my husband was watching the news, which is something I don't usually watch, but I like, it gives simple sound, there's no background noise to it or anything. So I was in the kitchen making dinner, chopping vegetables and stuff, and I'm starting to argue with the newscaster. I'm like, wow, this is really good, that I'm sitting in here arguing with the newscaster. So, it's awesome, and no matter where I go in the house, I am still connected to the sound. So, it used to be, "Pause the movie, let me go to the kitchen and get a soda." Now it's like, I just walk in, grab my soda and the sound is following me everywhere. So I really like Listen EVERYWHERE, and I hope a lot of places consider taking it up because it is so easy. When you were talking, Cody, I thought, wouldn't this be amazing at airports? I hear nothing at airports, so I think it would be amazing in an airport. And for the first time in many years, I want new hearing aids with Bluetooth. So, it's awesome. And this is the first product to come along to make me want to go out and buy hearing aids.

Julia: This is Julia. That takes a lot for Chelle too to change, change, no. Okay, Cody.

Cody Hall: Yeah. I was just going to say, we love to hear that here, right? That's what we do, we want to help people and change their lives, and help them to hear, so that really makes my day to hear that.

Julia: Okay. I'm going to ask you two simple questions. So, I think you kind of answered this with, the device can be this size versus this size for the receiver, is that based on your wifi ability, correct? Or is that based on how many, maybe, let's say it's the university stadium, so you want a certain size to cover whatever this, let's say, 5,000 fans, is that how that's kind of based?

Cody Hall: No, not necessarily. What it is, it's number of channels. So, if we want to just have two audio channels, our little box that, like I said, is smaller than the size of a toaster, I don't know if that's a good example, it's smaller than the size of a toaster, little box, that two-channel device would suffice. If we start getting into 4, 8, 12, 16 channels, that's where we got a full, they're 19-inches wide because that's the width of a traditional rack mount in a professional audio AV closet, and those mount right in. So they're a little bit longer to facilitate that, which is usually our high channel count type applications. Anyway, like you're saying, an airport, or a large venue, or a stadium, that would be maybe higher channel count, we would have the bigger server. So, all of our servers support 1000 users, no matter how big, no matter the size or channel count they are, they all support 1000 users.

Julia: Sweet. So, that's probably part of my second question. So if I wanted just a little two-channel one, because I want my office to work for me and my living room to work for my husband, that would be the scenario. Correct? Am I right?

Cody Hall: Two-channel server. Yep, that's right. And it doesn't matter where that server's at physically, as long as it's connected to your network. Yeah, you can have audio over on one side of the building or the wifi coverage and one over here, and it'll service both those on the same network, and you and your husband in that scenario would just select different channels.

Julia: Perfect. Yeah, that was my second question.

Cody Hall: Yeah, no problem.

Chelle: She's trying to save her marriage, the TV's too loud.

Julia: Yeah, that.

Cody Hall: Yeah, whatever you got to do, right?

Julia: So, Michele or Chelle, you guys have had a longer, I think, relationship with Listen Technologies than even myself, if you want to talk about your experience on how much they actually work in the community to advocate, they volunteer time, they donate services. Do you guys want to talk a little bit about your experiences with that? Michele.

Michele: I'll just mention that I've been a volunteer for the SayWhatClub for many years now. I joined in 2008, and when I started attending conventions is when I started hearing about Listen Technologies, and I've never been able to wear hearing aids, I have severe hyperacusis, so I can't tolerate sound. But with a hearing loop, that little bit of noise, little bit of sound that I get without any background interference really enhances my lip reading even though I have just a few low tones now, I'm going to assume that Listen EVERYWHERE would going to be the same concept. But anyway, Listen Technologies has always been a great support of the SayWhatClub, and you've sponsored us, and I believe you helped us install a loop one year. Yeah, I think a couple of years. So, we really appreciate how you insert yourself in the community and your commitment to making the lives of people who are deaf and hard of hearing much better. So, thank you.

Chelle: Okay. So this is Chelle, and I started going to the Sanderson Center, I think in 2009. And in 2010, as Julia said, we had a Walk4Hearing. And I think Listen made sure the loop was laid out in the park outside, which was really cool, and made sure we could hear. And then I think you guys did that all three years that we had the walk. And then also Listen has been wonderful about supporting our local HLAA Chapter in any events that come along for the hard of hearing sponsored lunches. You've also been awesome in letting me try things that come out. And I really enjoy that. I remember trying the ListenTALK back at the Hale Center Theater when there was a tour there, and also at the ribbon cutting like three or so years ago at the offices there too. And you guys did a tour of your whole offices and work area with the ListenTALK.

So, I like that because it allows two-way communication, and somebody could press the button and talk, and everybody hears it, and then there was no spinning my head around to find out who was talking, I could actually hear them like they were right there. And, let's see, I always, yeah, the SayWhatClub convention, I was really happy to bring you along there and introduce you to them. And you guys sponsored them quite often for their convention, and Listen is just really awesome about supporting the hard of hearing community. Thank you.

Julia: Amanda.

Amanda: Yeah. I just wanted to say that that is music to our ears. Chelle, that's one of the reasons that Listen Technologies exist. One of our core values, we believe everyone deserves the same great experience. And so, that's our whole mission with our improving and innovating every product that we have is to make it the best easiest experience for the very end user, right? So, yay.

Cody Hall: Yeah. And that's why we also have five different technologies and solutions too, right? Because every application is just maybe a little bit different. And Chelle, like you just said, two-way communication. If you want two-way communication, that's where ListenTALK is going to be a better solution for assistive listening, or tour guides, or whatever it may be. We have ListenIR, today we talked in depth about Listen EVERYWHERE, but here at Listen, we're not married to any one particular technology, it's about providing the right solution to the problem that's going to give the best experience to the end user. So, that's our mission and that's why we have different product lines to support the different applications. We've had a lot of, I didn't want to mention, we have worked with the HLAA in the past quite a bit with hearing loops. We have our ALD locator also that we have put out online to make it easy for people to find venues to have any of these solutions, whether it's an IR, FM, wifi-type solution. We're constantly looking for ways to help that end user hear at facilities.

Julia: Thank you, Cody. One of the things I like is your compliance covers many different areas, large venues for public venues under Americans with Disability Act, it also could easily cover any employer who is also responsible for accommodations for ADA, especially in their conference room areas. And price-wise, if you were redoing a conference room, why not look into Listen Technologies, see what you can fit into that. Even us with hearing, in those big board rooms, man, it's a nightmare sometimes, it'd be nice to be able to just listen to the speaker that I may need to have important information on. I like that. I like that you're all-inclusive for ADA compliance. Any other thoughts, questions? Cody.

Cody Hall: Yeah. So speaking about ADA, I mean, obviously the ADA calls out the American with Disabilities Act, the latest version from 2010, it calls out that most venues or any venue where there's amplified audio, they need to provide receivers or assistive listening devices. They need to provide those at the front desk or make them accessible for any individual to ask for, and have signage up that they have those to be compliant with the law, and that's part of the ADA. And also part of the ADA is that neckloop that I talked about, you have to have a certain percentage that also have neckloops. So, with Listen EVERYWHERE, the question does come up, well, if people are using their own smartphones and their own devices, are we compliant? Now today, we don't offer any type of dedicated wifi receiver. For customers that ask us, we would tell them, well, go buy a handful of cheaper smartphones, load the app on it, keep them in your drawer, and we consider that to be compliant per what the ADA calls equivalent facilitation. And so, as long as you're providing a solution, you're going to be fine, you're going to be compliant.

Cody Hall: So, I did want to point that out that that is the solution for the ADA. And like I said, we also sell neckloops. So people shouldn't shy away from Listen network due to that, due to the fact that people have additionally for years purchased RF and IR systems, those are not the only technologies. This is 2022, we have many other technologies now and on the horizon, that I'm sure is going to change people's mindset on that. And I also did want to mention that Listen has some exciting new products this year that will address a lot of these concerns. So stay tuned. I'll just leave it at that. Stay tuned, because Listen EVERYWHERE will be ADA compliant.

Julia: Nice. So, all you public venues out there doing updates this next year, call Listen Technologies first, that's what I say. Any other questions or comments? Chelle.

Chelle: Yeah, this is Chelle. I've always got something to say, I think. Yeah, be sure to let me know what new technology comes out because I just love trying new technology all the time. Even Michele and I have tried like a buzz band with haptics on it to keep us included in our environment. So technology's just way fun, and it's keeping up with my hearing loss, and you guys offer amazing products, and I just love the Listen EVERYWHERE. I just wanted to say, to tell everybody, please request assistive listening devices wherever you go into a public venue. The more of us that are asking for assistive listening devices, whatever they are, the better. I like to think of it as we keep the employees trained when we ask for them because a lot of them don't know, and they have to go back and find out. So the more we're asking, the more the employees are going to be trained on assistive listening devices.

And then, also, a lot of places say not enough people are asking for them so they don't update. We want updated technology so please ask for assistive listening no matter what, even hearing people can request assistive listening technology devices, and use their phone and whatever, just to get it known, and for clear sound, and less background noise. So, there's all kinds of advantages to having one while you're at a show or something. Please everybody request assistive listening devices. We have a problem with people not asking, and the people who set these things in motion get frustrated because they have the hard of hearing community at heart and they want to help us, but we're not doing our part all the time. So everybody, please request assistive listening devices.

Michele: I just wanted to make a quick mention about how important the signage and actually putting the information where the public can find it is. I do a lot of captioning and accessibility advocacy, and organizations will become accessible offering whatever, but you can't find it on their website. I know we've mentioned here that the ALD signage, a lot of times isn't used. And, I mean, there's so much about the things that are available to the hard of hearing that seem to be a mystery because there's not a consistency with the people who use these things to get the word out about it being available. If you have any advice on that in how you approach that or how you see solving that problem, I would love to hear it.

Amanda: This is Amanda, and I don't think that we have all those answers. We would love to solve it, but there's definitely an awareness gap. And I did want to mention that, Chelle, every employee at Listen and all of our family and friends know about assistive listening and we ask for devices whenever we go to a public venue. It not only increases awareness, but it helps us understand what that process is like. And it also identifies venues that maybe don't have their staff trained to know where the devices are. Are they charged? Are they working? There're so many things that happen when you actually ask for those. So, it's really, really important. And I just wanted to echo that, Chelle, that you do need to ask every time. The owner shouldn't only be on the hard of hearing community, and we can spread that through family and friends, right? My daughter attended an event a few weeks ago, and I made her ask for a device when she went. I'm like, "Don't forget to ask for an assistive listening device." And she commented on what a pain it was to check one out and to return it, and Listen EVERYWHERE solves for all of that, right?

Another thing that venues can really look forward to with is that then they're not keeping track of it, right? They don't have to have that training for those frontline employees who may experience quite a bit of turnover to know where the devices are, or how they work, et cetera. So, Listen EVERYWHERE really solves for all of those things and makes it a lot easier for them to not have to keep track of devices, et cetera. So, yeah, everyone should ask for devices and we know that there is a big awareness issue as well, and word of mouth, and getting it out to all of our family and friends to ask for devices, that's one way we're doing it.

And that's why we're so heavily involved in the advocacy side as well, right? It's not just so we can sell additional devices, it's hey, this is an assistive technology that can really help the hard of hearing community fully participate in life. And it makes a difference, right? Because if they can't participate or they can't keep up, they tend to want to stop doing those things, right? And the more isolated you get, and I think you've talked before about how that isolation and that hearing loss can also lead to dementia because of that isolation. So it's really important we get the word out, and that's one of the reasons we were so excited to agree to do your podcast as well, so that we can spread the word to everyone that this is really important for so many reasons on so many levels. So, thanks for having us for that reason.

Cody Hall: I wanted to add as well, I'm part of that awareness, we walk in a building and they have that sign there, the ear. And Chelle, you hit on this, not everyone knows what that means. So, it should be coupled with some text that kind of explains what is that service we're offering and what to ask for specifically, instead of just walking by, I don't know. So many of my family and friends are like, "Oh, that's what that area is." I often wondered, they don't know. So even though it's an international symbol and it's called out by the ADA, I do think there's maybe some improvement there that we could help raise awareness. We'll have to look at that.

Julia: Me likey, [Julia speak]. Got to do it at least once. Yeah, there needs to be a lot more awareness on that sign. It's amazing how many don't really know what that means. I think growing up, I just thought that meant you could wear your hearing aids there, so happens to us all. Anything else? Well, thank you for joining us today, we look forward to seeing you next week, and we hope you have a great week.

Cody Hall: Thanks for having us.

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