IEC TR 63079:2017 Code of practice for hearing-loop systems (HLS)

Summary

The international code of practice for hearing loops: guidance on designing, planning, installing, testing, operating and maintaining a loop system.

Key findings

• Gives recommendations and guidance on the design, planning, installation, testing, operation and maintenance of a hearing-loop system for speech, music or other signals.
• Is mainly concerned with loops for hearing enhancement, in which the signal reaches users of hearing aids fitted with magnetic pick-up coils (telecoils).
• Does not apply to induction-loop systems that use a carrier frequency, or to hearing enhancement systems that do not use magnetic induction.
• Is a technical report (guidance), unlike IEC 60118-4, which sets the performance requirements. The first edition runs to 103 pages and was amended in 2018 and 2020; the IEC lists 2029 as its stability date.
• Its contents list, in the free preview, includes clauses on verifying that the completed system delivers its intended performance (8.2), inspection and testing of wiring, commissioning, documentation, certification, acceptance and verification (13-18), owner responsibilities (signage, user feedback and staff training), operation and maintenance (routine testing, inspection and servicing, and a special inspection when a new maintenance organisation is appointed), and user responsibilities (a responsible person and a logbook), with annexes on monitoring receivers and model certificates for design, installation, commissioning, acceptance, optional verification, inspection and servicing, and modification.
• Its introduction says the document "should not be quoted as if it were a specification and particular care should be taken to ensure that claims of compliance are not misleading", and that anyone claiming to follow it should be able to justify departures from its recommendations.
• A standards vendor's catalogue (IHS) lists the UK code of practice BS 7594:2011 as withdrawn and superseded by PD IEC TR 63079:2017+A2:2020, the UK edition of this report.
• The catalogue lifecycle metadata dates Amendment 1 and consolidated edition 1.1 to 5 September 2018, and Amendment 2 and consolidated edition 1.2 to 1 April 2020. These dates do not identify particular technical changes in the unread amendments.

Limits

Read from the IEC webstore abstract and the free preview on VDE Verlag's site (cover, contents, foreword, introduction, scope and the first definitions); the guidance itself is paywalled, so this record cannot say what it recommends on any specific point, and the preview shows no maintenance intervals or test limits. The BS 7594 supersession comes from a vendor listing, not from BSI.

Read the original

webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/32554

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
• Where do hearing loops fall short: metal, spill, noise and upkeep?Partly answered
• How do listeners learn that a venue has assistive listening, and which signs and symbols do the rules ask for?Partly answered
• What should a venue specify and ask for when it buys an assistive listening system?Partly answered

Cite this source

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