Question
I have a client who is court reporter and has difficulty hearing in noisy courtrooms. Her hearing is in the low normal range, and she's not having difficulty in any other situation. She needs to hear every word in court and it's a reverberant room with a lot of ambient noise. What are her options?
Answer
It is a typical complaint of people with hearing loss and even those with normal hearing that poor acoustics and crowded noisy courtrooms make it very difficult to hear and understand court proceedings.
The court reporter's job is to accurately record every word of the proceedings, in an unobtrusive manner and without interrupting. Poorly delivered comments, reverberant courtrooms with noisy air conditioners and ventilation systems, and other ambient room noise in the courtroom can cause a reporter to miss key words.
In a courtroom, when the speakers are at a distance from the listener, a personal FM system such as the Comfort Contego® is an ideal solution. With a personal FM system, the court reporter would wear the receiver, and the signal from the transmitter would be delivered directly to the reporter's receiver, without amplifying interfering ambient noise. Since these systems are small and portable, reporters that work in multiple courtrooms can bring their systems with them.
Not all personal FM systems are alike. For someone with normal hearing, such as your client, choose an FM system that is easy to use right out of the box and has an internal microphone adjustment. Systems that have microphone adjustment from the receiver offer maximum convenience and comfort for the wearer. In a courtroom, security is of the utmost importance. Choose a system that sends the coded radio transmission digitally over secure channels such as the Comfort Contego® Courtroom Listening System. It also may be advantageous to choose a flexible and expandable system, so that other listeners, such as court interpreters or jurors, can also wear receivers if needed. Since your client, who has relatively normal hearing, is having difficulty hearing the proceedings, chances are others in the courtroom are having difficulty hearing as well.
Patrik Liljekvist is Sales & Marketing Director, North, Central & South America for Comfort Audio. Comfort Audio has earned an international reputation for leadership in the field of assistive listening devices due to its focus on quality and technology innovation since its inception in 1994. In addition to personal ALDs, Comfort Audio offers a range of hearing systems to enable active work environments and to promote learning in schools. In 2008, Comfort Audio launched the Comfort Contego® Courtroom Listening System, which is used by jurors, defendants, attorneys, court reporters and interpreters in courtrooms around the world. More information about Comfort Audio and the Comfort Contego® Courtroom Listening System can be found at https://www.comfortaudio.us/ or the Comfort Audio web channel on Audiology Online.