Loop Performance Standard IEC 60118-4:2006

Summary

A loop distributor's plain-language summary of the loop performance standard, with its advice on signage, staff training and routine checks and its account of why installed loops stop working unnoticed.

Key findings

• Summarises the standard's targets as 400 mA/m at listening height within ±3 dB across the listening plane, and a frequency response within ±3 dB of the 1 kHz level from 100 Hz to 5 kHz; it says the tolerance is relaxed for counter loops to a total variation of 9 dB, while the standard does not define the usable listening volume.
• Gives the background magnetic noise as ideally no worse than -47 dB(A), with -32 dB(A) acceptable; between -22 and -32 dB it says the noise should be investigated before a loop is installed, since it may fall outside the hearing aid's range or come from an electrical fault.
• States that well-designed, professionally installed loops rarely break down but all too often do not work well or at all, because they are switched off, microphones are moved, covered or unplugged, amplifier controls are adjusted, or the loop is cut or disconnected, and that nobody notices because only hearing aid users listen to the system.
• Recommends that staff check loops with a loop receiver monthly and before any event, and that systems be inspected and tested with a field strength meter against the standard.
• Lists what customer-facing staff should know: what a loop is, which areas it covers, how to switch it on and check it, and what to do if it fails.
• In the same passage on counter loops, it says the standard allows a total variation of field strength of 9 dB in the listening volume and "does not define the useable listening volume".
• In the frequency-response section, warns that a loop listener alone is difficult to use to judge frequency response without experience, and that sound judged acceptable by the checker may still be inadequate for a listener with hearing loss.

Limits

A distributor's summary, not the standard: it describes the superseded 2006 edition, and its figures have not been checked here against the paywalled text. It gives no data on how often loops fail. The page shows no date.

Read the original

www.univoxaudio.co.uk/knowledge-centre-wiki/standards-legislation-and-best-practice/standard-iec-60118-4-2006

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

Cited in

• Can Auracast serve ticket windows, service counters and reception desks?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
• Should a venue keep its hearing loop when it adds Auracast, and can one system serve both?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 works in courtrooms, council chambers and other meeting rooms where speech must be heard by all and kept in the room?Partly answered
• Do portable and counter loops work, and how should they be set up and used?Partly answered

Cite this source

The original gives no date, so the citation says “n.d.”. 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/univox-loop-standard-guide/

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