Ground-breaking technology developed by a North East company is set to make life easier for people with hearing difficulties in many different situations—from visiting museums and going to the cinema to schoolrooms and court buildings.

The ‘Infra~Hear’ system has been developed by Sunderland-based Current Thinking, whose safety and audio products are in use world-wide. Company Managing Director Anthony Smith believes its ease of use, flexibility and security means that it will be of benefit to many different organisations who need to provide facilities for people with a range of hearing difficulties.

He explains “Because the system converts audio to an infra-red light beam which then can be picked up on dedicated personal receivers, it can be used in situations where conventional induction loop systems are impracticable.

“The ‘Infra~Hear’ personal receivers we have developed are compact, worn with an integral neck loop and have the advantage that, as well as helping people with hearing aids, they can be fitted with external headphones. 

“Our design has a number of specific benefits including the fact that it uses standard size rechargeable batteries giving 30 hours life, much longer than units produced by some other companies. In addition if the batteries do go flat you can easily obtain replacements from the nearest shop.

“The transmitter unit can easily be placed in situations such as classrooms and meeting rooms and there is also the ability to use it with a microphone. 

“One of the specific benefits of infra red technology is that the light will not pass through walls which makes it ideal for use in sensitive or security situations—for instance court rooms and council chambers.

“In addition our system uses frequencies which avoid the kind of interference from energy efficient lamps and plasma televisions which dogged previous infra red systems. That means it can be used anywhere in the world, unlike radio assistive listening units, which need licensing in most countries

“We think this really is a breakthrough in providing an easy-to-use and highly flexible means of meeting the needs of people with hearing problems across a wide range of activities.”

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