Summary
An online survey of hearing care professionals on how often they fit and verify telecoils, what they tell patients about them, and what stops them.
Key findings
- The Effective Education Options chart distinguishes least helpful, helpful and most helpful ratings. The 71.3% for one-to-one counselling and 48.8% for an office loop demonstration are specifically the most helpful category, rated by clinicians; they are not measured patient-learning outcomes.
- Recorded 255 survey-link entries while recruiting hearing care professionals through social media, ASHA Special Interest Groups 9 and 11, and ASHA and Educational Audiology Association email lists over 14 weeks from August to November; at most 184 completed the survey, and 128 to 184 answered each question. 52.7% worked in private practices and clinics and 25.0% in hospitals and medical centres.
- Asked how often they fit hearing aids with a telecoil, 30.4% said always ("Telecoils can be activated later at any time"), 42.9% as needed after a needs assessment, 13.0% only if the patient asks, 2.7% never and 10.9% other.
- Asked whether they verify or validate the activated telecoil, 14.3% said always, 11.5% most of the time, 12.1% sometimes, 22.0% not often and 40.1% never.
- 33.9% said they counsel on assistive listening systems, including telecoils, at the first hearing aid consultation, against 91.3% who discuss Bluetooth connectivity and streaming; 54.9% cover telecoil use at the fitting. Asked when they spend most time teaching the telecoil (more than one answer allowed), 57.9% named follow-up appointments, 47.5% when patients ask, 31.7% the fitting and 21.3% the consultation.
- The most chosen barriers to fitting and teaching telecoils were having to choose between a telecoil and rechargeability (33.7%), no hearing loop in the office for demonstration (30.2%), no hearing loops in the area (26.0%), no local venues with neckloop systems (21.3%), Auracast replacing telecoils soon (14.2%), no cosmetically appealing telecoil option from their main manufacturer (13.6%) and a main manufacturer that does not include telecoils (13.0%).
- Respondents named one-to-one counselling (71.3%) and in-office demonstration with an installed loop (48.8%) as effective ways to teach patients; comments said patients often do not read manufacturer materials or struggle with online support.
- Its conclusions state that 30.4% of respondents always include telecoils in hearing aids "when size permits".
- The Results paragraph below Methods says responses were captured when people clicked the survey link: 255 were recorded, at most 184 were completed, and individual questions had 128 to 184 answers. The 255 figure is therefore not a count of completed questionnaires.
Limits
A poster, not a peer-reviewed paper. The sample is small and self-selected, with no response rate, and answers are self-reported practice. Percentages are read from the poster's text and charts. The year of fieldwork is not given (the project's ethics approval is numbered 2024). The date and venue come from co-author Zachary La Fratta's CV, which lists the poster as presented at the ISHA Convention in March 2025.
Read the original
centerforhearingaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/Alles-EBP-Poster.pdf
Cited in
- Are telecoils switched on and set up well enough for loops to work?Not reliable yet
- How do listeners learn that a venue has assistive listening, and which signs and symbols do the rules ask for?Partly answered
Cite this source
Alles M, La Fratta Z, Strickland E. Clinician Perspectives on Training and Implementation of Telecoils in Hearing Aids. Purdue University, Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences (poster presented at the ISHA Convention). March 2025. https://centerforhearingaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/Alles-EBP-Poster.pdf (accessed 13 October 2026).
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