What is a T-coil?

When I get requests I will definitely get timely posts up - for now, I'm not sure what you the reader may or may not know about hearing aids in general, so here is a little bit of information about a feature on most hearing aids I find absolutely essential for successful communication via telephone and listening to my iPod.

In my previous post, I mentioned my purchase of a T-Coil Headphone. What is a T-Coil?

This link from Galludet University (a deaf only university in Washington DC) provides a really good general overview, as well as highlighting some technology issues that I personally experienced as a kid in the classroom.

Product Review: T Coil Headphones

One of the greatest frustrations with many assistive hearing products is the relatively few producers, which result in higher prices and often, mediocre or lower quality. I was pleasantly surprised to find the market is slowing changing when I ran across TecEar (www.tecear.com)


I recently purchased one of their iNoiZ-Music T-coil inductive ear hook stereo earphones. The price was the lowest I've ever had to pay for this type of earphone, by almost double the previous lowest price!

I have been extremely pleased with the high quality of the t-coil. The only complaint I would have would be the the coil is literally just inches thick, and has a tendency to get caught in my hair or fall off the back of my ear if I move quickly.

Since I only wear one aid, I purchased the Mono model. Shortly after my package arrived in the mail, I was showing off the t-coil at work to a friend who has experience in mixing tracks and recordings. That is incidentally what gave me the idea for this blog, since most music is mixed and balanced to be played in stereo, or heard by both ears.

The conversation about how the music sounds in mono versus stereo hearing might just be the next blog post!