Promote Your Hearing Loop During the Easter Season!

Draw Seasonal Visitors Back into the Flock

Churches can expect an influx of visitors, in addition to their regular attendees, during the Easter season. According to Senior Pastor Central, more than likely 25% of all visitors to a church annually will come for Easter services. This is an excellent opportunity to promote your church’s hearing loop, helping ensure regular attendees and guests with hearing loss enjoy your Easter services.

A hearing loop signifies to attendees that all are truly welcome in your church community. Make this message loud and clear by taking the following easy steps to promote your hearing loop during the Easter season:

  • Briefly explain hearing loop technology before the start of services and remind attendees to turn on their telecoil program.
  • Promote the presence of your hearing loop in your church bulletin.
  • Add a slide with hearing loop information to your PowerPoints (if used).
  • Assign a point person to help answer questions about the system and/or assist with loop receivers before the service.
  • Have extra receivers on hand. Assist2Hear is happy to help you with additional receiver purchase or rental if needed.

A hearing loop is a true blessing for people with hearing loss! It significantly enhances the church experience by providing clarity to every word spoken. Most notably, hearing loops filter out the echo, reverberation, and background noise that traditionally make it difficult to hear the sermon in church. Attendees with or without hearing aids can utilize the hearing loop system.

The Easter season is a prime opportunity to promote the hearing loop to your attendees and guests, offering them an enhanced worship experience. By actively promoting your hearing loop, you are also increasing the odds of turning an Easter visitor into a regular attendee!

Picture of stained glass window with a cross

New Hearing Loop in Fredericksburg Texas

Trinity Church in Fredericksburg, TX

Trinity Church in Fredericksburg Installs Hearing Loop

The charming town of Fredericksburg, TX is now even more lovely thanks to the addition of a new hearing loop within the community. The new Fredericksburg hearing loop is at Trinity Church,  located across from the Circle E Candle Factory, approximately 2 miles east of town, at 157 Schmidtzinsky Road. The town of Fredericksburg itself is located in the wine country just outside Austin.  Today, the town is known for both its wine production, as well its uniquely German flair, an homage to the town’s early settlers. The church, formerly known as Fredericksburg Fellowship Christian Church, chose Assist2Hear to install the hearing loop system.

Hearing Loop Installation Experience Counts

Dark brown wood and historic-looking white walls are the hallmarks of the sanctuary at Trinity Church. The architecture and décor of the sanctuary is, of course, very German – high-quality wood, well-constructed and traditional, with clean lines. Trinity’s flooring consists of beautiful dark brown wood planks that run perpendicular to the pews and the ceiling is cavernous. Installing a hearing loop in a distinctive location such as this requires a variety of different techniques to hide or disguise wiring.

In spaces with similar size and layout, a minimum of a figure-eight loop design is necessary to ensure the end product is IEC-compliant. Anything less in a space this wide will generally result in “dead” spots, highly variable, or low sound for the user. Unfortunately, in hearing loop land, it is extremely rare to be able to just “run a wire around a room” and have a street-legal hearing loop. To minimize the disturbance to the church’s decor during the installation, the many years of design and installation experience of Assist2Hear team paid off.

“Most installers would not have taken this job, simply because of the wood flooring,” said Richard, Assist2Hear lead installer. “We have worked with so many historical churches and buildings over the years now though that we can figure out how to install a hearing loop anywhere and make it hidden. The way the materials used on the floor blended with the wood floor in this job far kind of blew my mind though -– it looks phenomenol!”

Visiting Fredericksburg

Founded in 1946 by German settlers, today the town of Fredericksburg continues to embrace its historic German heritage. German restaurants, bed & breakfasts, and wineries abound. The town is also notably home to the National Museum of the Pacific War, named after Fredericksburg native, Chester A. Nimitz. The museum is a must-visit for history buffs!

A visit to Fredericksburg, TX is definitely worth one’s time. Take heed though – throngs of tourists and weekenders arrive toward the middle and end of the week. For a quieter and more navigable experience, visit earlier in the week. To quote the locals, “the weekend starts on Wednesday in Fredericksburg”.

Tourism being the primary industry, it is expected that both locals and visitors will benefit from the new Fredericksburg hearing loop at Trinity Church!

Various pictures of the sanctuary of Trinity Church in Fredericksburg, TX where the new hearing loop was installed.

Johnstown United Methodist Church Installs a Hearing Loop

Another Methodist Church Gets in the Loop!

United Methodist Church of Johnstown sanctuary

Assist2Hear is pleased to announce that yet another United Methodist church has chosen to install a hearing loop! This past Easter Sunday, congregation members with hearing loss at the United Methodist Church of Johnstown got to enjoy the Word clearly and easily via the new hearing loop system. The church is located at 108 King Avenue in Johnstown, Colorado.

The hearing loop installation was a stand-alone project for the church. This means the loop was installed as a retrofit, not during a time of new construction or a remodel. To install the hearing loop in the church, carpet modification and restoration were necessary. All installation services – hearing loop wiring and carpet work – are performed by Assist2Hear employees.  In doing so, Assist2Hear is able to make system installation affordable for customers.

How to Use the Hearing Loop

The hearing loop system is accessible for all worshippers, regardless of whether or not they use a hearing aid; however, the majority of hearing loop users will listen with their own telecoil-enabled hearing aid. To use the hearing loop, a user simply changes their hearing aid to the “telecoil” or “M1” program. Additionally, hearing loop receivers and headsets are available for use for those without hearing aids or telecoils. Attendees who need a receiver can pick one up at the audio booth, located in the rear of the church sanctuary. If someone is unsure if their hearing aid has a telecoil program, giving their audiologist a call can help clarify.

A Unique Church History

The United Methodist Church of Johnstown has a long and colorful history in Colorado.  In 1903, the church merged with a local Episcopal congregation to become the first United Methodist church west of the Mississippi!  Today, the engaged and friendly congregation is led by Pastor Jeremy Scott.  For more information on the United Methodist Church of Johnstown, its many methods of outreach to the community, and the schedule of services, please visit its website at www.johnstown.church.

Hearing Loops in the United Methodist Faith

The United Methodist faith is deeply committed to making worship accessible to congregation members with hearing loss. United Methodist churches with hearing loops can be found throughout the nation. Assist2Hear has installed many hearing loops within the faith. Some of these hearing loop installations include:

For a complete list of Assist2Hear loop installations, please visit our online hearing loop directory. For more information about a hearing loop installation for your church, send an inquiry to info@assist2hear.com or give Assist2Hear a call!



Hearing Loops in New Oklahoma City Catholic Church

Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine

Hearing Loops at New Catholic Shrine Site

Oklahoma Catholics with hearing loss will have the best sound in the house when they worship at the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine next year.  The site will house a 2,000 seat Catholic church, the largest in Oklahoma, as well as the Blessed Stanley Rother shrine and an educational complex.  In addition to being the largest Catholic church in Oklahoma, the church and chapel on the shrine site will also include induction hearing loop technology for worshipers.  The hearing loop systems will bring the Word of God directly to the ears of Catholic worshipers with hearing loss and eliminate the echo, reverberation, and ambient noise that often make hearing in church extremely difficult.

Why Catholic Churches Need Hearing Loop Technology

Traditionally, Catholic churches are beautifully cavernous structures with high ceilings and hard surfaces. Unfortunately, the construction of these spaces also causes sound to bounce, a factor that no amount of money spent on a sound system can overcome for a person with hearing loss.  In these types of spaces, the ability to hear the Word clearly and intelligbly is nearly impossible for people with hearing loss unless a hearing assistive technology, such a s hearing loop, is utilized.  With hearing loop technology, all of the peripheral sounds of a space are filtered out and the sound from the audio system comes directly to the user’s ear.  With a telecoil-enabled hearing aid, the Word of the Lord comes directly to their hearing aid wearer’s ear, as clearly as if the Father was sitting on their shoulder giving the sermon! The user simply needs to switch their own personal hearing aid to the telecoil program in order to access the technology – there is no need for additional equipment.  If a user does not have a telecoil-enabled hearing aid, then utilize a receiver, however, most people enjoy the system by simply using their own hearing aids.

Blessed Stanley Rother Catholic Church Altar-View
Blessed Stanley Rother Catholic Church conceptual, courtesy of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma

 

The History of the Blessed Stanley Rother

Father Stanley Rother was born and raised in Okarche, Oklahoma in 1935.  He joined the priesthood in 1963, and in the 1970s brought the Word to worshipers in the parish of Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala.  While preaching in Guatemala, a civil war between the militarists and guerillas killed thousands of Catholics. Despite the threat to his safety, Father Rother continued to teach the Word and educate the people of Guatemala.  In 1981, Father Rother was executed for his refusal to abandon his people in the time of war.  He is the first martyer in the United States and the first U.S.-born priest to be beatified, according to the Archdiocese of Oklahoma. His heart remains enshrined in Guatemala to this day.  Visit the website of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma at https://www.archokc.org/stanleyrother for his full biography.

Hearing Loops in Oklahoma Catholic Churches

Hearing loops are in many Catholic churches in the Oklahoma City corridor, including St. Thomas Moore in Norman, Holy Spirit in Mustang, and St. Eugene’s in Oklahoma City.  When in the Tulsa area, Catholics with hearing can enjoy the Word through hearing loops located at the Catholic Church of St. Mary or Holy Family.  Assist2Hear is the installer for all Oklahoma hearing loops listed, with the exception of Holy Family. For more Oklahoma hearing loop locations, click here .

Since 2010, Assist2Hear has been a leading national installer of induction hearing loop systems throughout the U.S.  If your church would like a quote on a hearing loop, email us at info@assist2hear.com. For more information on how hearing loops can help people in your church better hear the Word, please visit our blog post Hearing Loop Systems in Churches.

For more information on the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine, please visit the Catholic Diocese of Oklahoma’s dedicated page at  https://archokc.org/shrine.

 

 

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