For the past year, Advanced Listening has been cultivating a great working relationship with the accessibility team and staff at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo B.C. The most recent of projects was to install a ‘Large-area Phased-Array Hearing Loop’ in the Malaspina Theatre located on campus. This project was years in the making but was ultimately delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Originally specced by our friends at Auris Loops, the installation of the system was then implemented by the Advanced Listening team in January 2023. What started as a “small job” in which only a few of the seating rows were to be looped quickly became, “Why not loop the whole theatre?”. Why not indeed. Now the vast majority of the seating area is covered by the loop providing excellent audibility and sound quality to individuals with T-Coil equipped hearing aids as well as to individuals who may rely on using a “loop listener” (induction-loop receiver with headphones) for their listening experience.
In addition to the hearing loop installation in the theatre, Advanced Listening has provided several alternative assistive hearing solutions throughout the V.I.U campus increasing accessibility, communication and engagement for the students, faculty and visitors of the university. Kudos to Vancouver Island University for their continued commitment to inclusivity!
