Bob Bosserman, left, chair of facilities for Bainbridge Public Library, and Rick Diaz, assistant installer at Now Hear This!, test the newly installed hearing loop in the library’s Community Room.
To help meet a growing need for Bainbridge residents, the Rotary Club of Bainbridge provided a grant for the Bainbridge Public Library to install a hearing loop system in the library’s large and popular Community Room.
“We want to provide good access to our ‘silently disadvantaged’ residents through the new hearing assistive technology,” said Bob Bosserman, facilities committee chair for library’s board of directors, in a news release.
Bosserman said the Community Room is booked an average of 22 days a month.
The system works by using hearing loops that transmit audio from a public address system directly to telecoil-equipped hearing aids and cochlear implants. The telecoil function as an antenna and relays the sounds directly into the ear of someone wearing hearing aids or cochlear implants without background noise or distortion — similar to how Wi-Fi connects people to the Internet.
“We are … eager for word to get out to islanders that there is a new venue on the island where they can be assured their hearing impairment will not be a barrier to enjoying lectures and performances,” said Sarah Morgans, one of the board of directors for Bainbridge Public Library.
