Assistive Listening Knowledge Base
  • Trade magazine article (advocate author)

What's Going On? More Loops and Fewer Telecoils

From https://assistivelisteningknowledgebase.org/evidence/frazier-2020/ · record checked 9 October 2026

  • Frazier SO
  • Hearing Review

Nonprofit advocacy (written by Stephen O. Frazier, a freelance writer who heads the Loop New Mexico campaign and was a founding member of HLAA's Get in the Hearing Loop initiative; published in the trade magazine Hearing Review)

Summary

An advocate's count, from the Consumer's Guide to Hearing Aids, of how many hearing aid models offered a telecoil in 2017 and in 2020, brand by brand.

Key findings

  • Leaving out completely-in-the-canal (invisible) models, the number of models large enough for a telecoil fell from 349 in the 2017 Consumer's Guide to Hearing Aids to 235 in the 2020 guide, and the number offering a telecoil fell from 291 to 176, a drop of 40%. The share went from 83% to 75%.
  • Counting invisible models too, the share of all listed models that could take a telecoil fell from 71% in 2017 to 58% in 2020 (176 of 302 models).
  • Brands differed widely: in 2020, 11 brands offered a telecoil on every model that could hold one, while others ranged from 17% to 85%. Rexton went from 20 of 20 models in 2017 to 13 of 28; Signia's share fell from 82% to 53% as new models were added.
  • Reports that the guide excludes Costco, Sam's Club and some direct sellers, and quotes WS Audiology calling Rexton's drop temporary and Starkey stating its commitment to telecoils.
  • Says nine US states then required clients to be told about telecoils before a fitting, while reporting that some providers still tell clients Bluetooth makes a telecoil unnecessary.
  • Quotes WS Audiology (Andrew Arnold): "There has been a temporary dip in the number of Rexton hearing aids equipped with telecoil for a couple of reasons."
  • Quotes Starkey (Dave Fabry): "We remain strongly committed to providing telecoil solutions for our latest custom, behind-the-ear (BTE), and receiver-in the-canal (RIC) products."

Limits

Counts models listed in a guide that makers join voluntarily, not hearing aids sold or in use. The author is a loop advocate, and the manufacturer quotes and the reports about providers are the author's, without data. The figures are from 2017 and 2020.

Read the original

hearingreview.com/hearing-products/accessories/assistive-technologies/whats-going-on-more-loops-and-fewer-telecoils

Link checked . We link to the original and do not host copies.

Cited in

Cite this source

Frazier SO. What's Going On? More Loops and Fewer Telecoils. Hearing Review. 28 September 2020. https://hearingreview.com/hearing-products/accessories/assistive-technologies/whats-going-on-more-loops-and-fewer-telecoils (accessed 9 October 2026).

The accessed date is when this library last checked the link; use the date you read it. To point readers to this summary instead, link to https://assistivelisteningknowledgebase.org/evidence/frazier-2020/

Every finding here cites its source, and who funded each source is labelled. This site does not recommend products. Found an error or a missing study? Suggest a correction.