The Assistive Listening Devices and Where You May Borrow One in New Jersey

Assistive listening devices (ALDs) include a large variety of devices designed to improve audibility in specific listening situations. Some are designed to be used with hearing aids or cochlear implants (CIs), while others are designed to be used alone. Many that are used in conjunction with hearing aids require a telecoil (T-switch).

While there are a many varieties of microphones, pickups, headphones, earphones, etc., that comprise assistive listening devices, they all have the same goal: to emphasize the one signal that you are interested in. That signal might be a faraway voice (e.g., a lecturer in an auditorium), or a relatively near signal that gets lost in other noise (e.g., listening to TV while others are talking nearby, or trying to converse in a restaurant).

Assistive listening devices can usually amplify a signal, but their primary purpose isn't to make a signal louder. Rather, they place a pickup (microphone) close to the sound source, so that it becomes louder compared to the other sounds in the environment. Assistive listening devices improve your ability to hear because they make the desired sound stand out from the background noise.

Assistive Listening Systems can bridge the gap between your ears and the sounds you do want to hear, while shutting out those you don't.

The New Jersey Assistive Listening Technology Loan Program makes two types of systems available to you for free for up to four weeks at a time.

The Assistive Listening Technology Loan Program is available at the participating libraries listed below.

For more information, ask a librarian at any of the participating libraries for a brochure and/or a demonstration of the equipment. For additional assistance, contact the Coordinator, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Awareness Program at the NJ Library for the Blind and Handicapped.

The Assistive Listening Technology Loan Program is made possible by a grant from the NJ Division of the Deaf & Hard of Hearing to the NJ Library for the Blind & Handicapped, through its Deaf and Hard of Hearing Awareness Program.

Atlantic County Library (609) 625-2776

Camden County Library (856) 772-1636

Gloucester County Library (856) 223-6000

Monmouth County Library (732) 431-7220

Montclair Public Library (973) 744-0500

Morris County Library (973) 285-6930

Ocean County Library (732) 349-6200

Piscataway Public Library (732) 463-1633

Teaneck Public Library (201) 837-4171

Vineland Public Library (856) 794-4244

Library for the Blind & Handicapped 800-792-8322 or (877) 882-5593 (TTY)