This is an easy question i am sure one person will answer it and that will be the end of this thread. What is an FM system how is it used and how does it work. Being hearing when i think of FM i think of the radio. When i first saw these threads regarding it that was my first thought. Thanks for the help!!
FM System????
- Thread starter Southern
- Start date
It is a radio, actually. It consists of two parts: a transmitter, with a microphone and usually an audio in port, and receivers that are either integrated into the hearing aid or plug into the bottom of it.
The most common use, I believe, is in the classroom; the teacher or professor wears the microphone - either on a lanyard or as a lavalier mic, depending on the brand - and it improves the signal/noise ratio for the student. However, they're also commonly used in other situations.
Most of them let you plug in a regular headphone cable to them as an input - so I can plug in my iPod, for instance, and leave the whole thing in my backpack, which is kind of a nice bonus. A few of the lecture halls I have class in even allow me to plug my transmitter into them, so I get sound directly from the hall's sound system. One FM system - the Phonak Soundlink - even does Bluetooth, so you can interface it with your cell phone (that is, an FM signal from the hearing aid to the Smartlink, and a BT connection between the Smartlink and the cell phone).
I love my FM system, can you tell? ;-)
The most common use, I believe, is in the classroom; the teacher or professor wears the microphone - either on a lanyard or as a lavalier mic, depending on the brand - and it improves the signal/noise ratio for the student. However, they're also commonly used in other situations.
Most of them let you plug in a regular headphone cable to them as an input - so I can plug in my iPod, for instance, and leave the whole thing in my backpack, which is kind of a nice bonus. A few of the lecture halls I have class in even allow me to plug my transmitter into them, so I get sound directly from the hall's sound system. One FM system - the Phonak Soundlink - even does Bluetooth, so you can interface it with your cell phone (that is, an FM signal from the hearing aid to the Smartlink, and a BT connection between the Smartlink and the cell phone).
I love my FM system, can you tell? ;-)
Lillys dad
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2006
- Messages
- 863
- Reaction score
- 0
FYI, Fm is also used with CI
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2006
- Messages
- 45,078
- Reaction score
- 323
Gosh..the word FM systems brings back some funny memories.
In middle school, I was forced to wear a FM system (wonder why since I did fine without it in elementary school) and I hated it cuz it drew attention on my deafness. I was responsible for putting it back on the charger at the end of the day and I wouldnt press hard enough on purpose so the battery would be dead the next day to avoid using it. When my deaf ed teacher figured out what I was doing, she took the responsibility herself so when I was wearing the device, I would knock it down or bump into buildings on purpose so it can fall down and break. After months of finding ways to ruin it, my teachers gave up on it and I didnt have to wear it anymore. I was THRILLED!!! Hearing aids worked just as well as the FM system...didnt help me at all in being able to understand anyone through listening..duh! I preferred a device that I could hide. I was only 13 years old so of course I didnt want to be "different".
It never really worked for me...more static and the microphone always brushed against the teacher's clothes and it would make this most annoying screeching noise that hurted my head!
In middle school, I was forced to wear a FM system (wonder why since I did fine without it in elementary school) and I hated it cuz it drew attention on my deafness. I was responsible for putting it back on the charger at the end of the day and I wouldnt press hard enough on purpose so the battery would be dead the next day to avoid using it. When my deaf ed teacher figured out what I was doing, she took the responsibility herself so when I was wearing the device, I would knock it down or bump into buildings on purpose so it can fall down and break. After months of finding ways to ruin it, my teachers gave up on it and I didnt have to wear it anymore. I was THRILLED!!! Hearing aids worked just as well as the FM system...didnt help me at all in being able to understand anyone through listening..duh! I preferred a device that I could hide. I was only 13 years old so of course I didnt want to be "different".
It never really worked for me...more static and the microphone always brushed against the teacher's clothes and it would make this most annoying screeching noise that hurted my head!
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2006
- Messages
- 14,491
- Reaction score
- 2
FM systems work ok for me in a classroom but otherwise has never been of much help to me and I prefer using a terp.
Loops systems and other assistive listening systems are useless for me and they were a waste of my parent's money.
Loops systems and other assistive listening systems are useless for me and they were a waste of my parent's money.
I think that they should put a soundfield system into EVERY classroom. I know that soundfields help HEARING kids as well.
I really think that most people should experiment with FM and ALD usage. It should NOT be mandatory. Like I know of so many people who were kneejerkly reccomneded it.
jillio
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2006
- Messages
- 60,232
- Reaction score
- 19
My son hated his so much that when he was in first grade, he would take the batteries out and sign "broke" to the teacher!
Hear Again
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2005
- Messages
- 20,114
- Reaction score
- 5
I'm one of the few people who loved using my Comtek FM system in college. It allowed me to hear class lectures and discussions without the need for an interpreter. I wish FM systems had been available to me back in high school when I had moderately-severe hearing loss. It would have made hearing in the classroom so much easier! Even now that I have bilateral CIs, I still use an FM system from time to time to help block out background noise. Since I can hear background noise quite easily with my CIs, sometimes it can be very distracting thereby making it difficult to concentrate on the voice(s) I need to hear.
the soundfield has speakers placed around the outside of the classroom, that way the sound when the teacher is talking comes from all sides, so the kids hear her/him no matter where they stand in the classroom. My oldest student taught at St. Peter in MN, there they installed them in classrooms after finding out that the one installed for a child with hmmm adhd/add (cant really remember exactly why the parents got a sound field in that classroom could have been something like CAPD to I suppose) maybe benefitted all kids in the class.