By Stephen O. Frazier and Sally Schwartz Neck loops are a “headset” for those who wear hearing aids equipped with telecoils or who have a telecoil-equipped cochlear implant. Literally any device that can be used with a headset (with or without a mic) may be used with a neck loop. W ith the dramatic increase in awareness and use of hearing loops in homes, churches, live theater, meeting halls and other locations, another form of hearing loops—the neck loop—has been somewhat overlooked. This incarnation of induction loop technology can turn a hearing aid (or a cochlear implant) into a versatile and sophisticated personal listening system. Think of a neck loop by itself as simply a headset for telecoil (sometimes called t-coil) equipped hearing aids. Just like a headset needs some type of audio source, so does the neck loop and they come in amplified and non-amplified versions. The amplified version comes in two forms: • Bluetooth® for cellular and some cordless home phones • Corded styles for cell phones, cordless phones, personal amplifiers and other devices The OftenNeglected Neck Loop 28 Hearing Loss Magazine The one requirement for using a neck loop with hearing aids is that the hearing aids must have telecoils and there must be a manual control for the telecoils. Some so called “automatic” telecoils have no manual control, they are activated by the magnet in the telephone earpiece. They will not sense a neck or room loop and activate, so those telecoils are useless for any purpose other than telephone use. Some automatics in both hearing aids and cochlear implants have a manual override so they will work fine with either a neck or room loop.