Hörapparatbärares upplevelser och erfarenheter av tekniska hörhjälpmedel i offentliga lokaler

Abstract

To be able to feel a sense of belonging, people need to have the possibility to take part of the information from the society. Hearing-impaired don’t have the same possibility as hearing people when they want to take part of the information, therefore they don’t get the same benefit. This contributes to a feeling of not belonging and a sense of limitation in different social occasions. Therefore the society needs to be accessible to everyone regardless disability. A national programme was prepared in year 2000. The aim of this programme is making the society accessible to everyone regardless disability.

Assistive listening devices in public premises are an important part of making hearing-impaired feel a sense of belonging and therefore gives a possibility to take part of the same information as hearing people. The available systems are induction loop, FM- and IR-systems.

The aim of this study was to examine hearing-aid users experiences of assistive listening devices in public premises. A questionnaire was designed and 25 members of Hörselskadades Förening in Gothenburg participated.

The result shows that assistive listening devices have an important role of making hearing-impaired feel a sense of belonging in the society. The participants of the study describes that there is a lot of functional problems with assistive listening devices, both due to technical causes and insufficient knowledge of several employees. It is necessary that the systems are in function so that hearing-impaired can have a possibility in feeling quality of life.