Best Practices for Hearing Loop Installation

Summary

HLAA's two-page checklist for venues hiring a hearing loop installer and commissioning the loop.

Key findings

• Page 1, under Qualifications, recommends asking for references and verifying experience in similar buildings. The preceding installer-selection paragraph says some states require additional licensing.
• Recommends an installer who has been "trained and certified in International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard verification", has technical support from the supplier and is legally allowed to install in the area.
• Lists what to require of the installer: on-site measurement before pricing, a loop that meets IEC 60118-4, a "certificate of conformity" to the standard, verification of performance by a hearing aid user familiar with loops, integration with the audio system, signage, staff training and "periodic maintenance", without saying how often.
• Names two companies that offer hearing loop training and certification: Contacta, Inc. and Williams Sound, both of which sell loop equipment.
• States that the IEC standard requires, as the final test, that a hearing aid user familiar with loops confirm on site, while the installer is present, that the signal is even and clear with minimal magnetic background noise. Staff can check that a loop is working but will not hear it as a telecoil or implant user does.
• Says a computer simulation cannot reveal magnetic background noise, so a loop should never be installed from a simulation alone, and that background noise should be investigated by a licensed electrician.

Limits

Advocacy guidance with no data on installation quality. The statement about the standard's final test has not been checked here against the paywalled text, and the guidance sets no maintenance interval. A companion HLAA sheet by the managing director of Contacta Inc. is a separate record in this library.

Read the original

www.hearingloss.org/wp-content/uploads/best-practices-for-hearing-loop-installation.pdf

Link checked 13 October 2026. We link to the original and do not host copies.

Cited in

• What commissioning tests and pass limits will the standards require?Open
• How is an installed hearing loop checked against IEC 60118-4, and how often does it pass?Partly answered
• What does each system cost to install and to run over its life?Open
• How do listeners learn that a venue has assistive listening, and which signs and symbols do the rules ask for?Partly answered
• What works in places of worship, and what do the rules ask of them?Partly answered
• Who designs and installs assistive listening, and what training or certification exists?Partly answered
• What should a venue specify and ask for when it buys an assistive listening system?Partly answered

Cite this source

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/hlaa-2021-loop-installation-practices/

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