Our church needs a loop
Pews, balconies, budgets, and what to tell the committee.
See church costs and optionsAssistive listening that’s measured, not assumed.
Help everyone in the room hear every word.
When people with hearing loss can’t follow the sermon, the story hour or the council vote, they quietly stop coming. We design, install and repair hearing loops and Auracast™ broadcast audio for churches, public buildings, senior living and theaters, and David Harmon measures every system before we hand it over.
A hearing loop sends your sound system straight into hearing aids and cochlear implants that have a telecoil (T) setting. Auracast does the same for compatible phones, earbuds and newer hearing aids.
- Free, and no obligation
- You’ll talk with David Harmon, who does the work
- Chicago-based · Across the Midwest
Start here
Where are you starting?
Our public building needs assistive listening
Council chambers, courtrooms, libraries and service desks, with the ADA receiver count worked out.
See public building guidanceOur residents can’t hear the chaplain or the TV
Chapels, activity rooms and TV lounges in senior living, installed around residents’ routines.
See senior living optionsOur loop isn’t working
Buzzing, weak seats or silence. We find the cause before anyone replaces anything.
Find out what’s wrongI’m an integrator or consultant
Loop design, commissioning and rescue on your project. Your client stays yours.
See subcontract services
- Also:
- Theaters and performing arts
- I have hearing loss and want my venue to add a loop
- Every other kind of room
Have a hearing loss yourself?
If you’re asking your church, library or residence to add a loop, we’re glad to help by text, email or a captioned video call, and we can join a committee meeting by video or in person when we’re nearby. Text 847-212-4216, email dave@equalaccessaudio.com, or see how to ask your venue.
Services
What we do
From a first look at a room to the report you keep. David leads every project personally.
- Hearing loops
Hearing loop design and installation
Perimeter loops, phased arrays and counter loops, designed around your floor, your seating and the metal in your building.
- Auracast
Auracast™ broadcast audio systems
Bluetooth® LE Audio broadcast for compatible phones, earbuds and hearing aids, planned for a full room, not an empty one.
- Choosing
Loop, Auracast or both?
Plain guidance on which system fits your room and your people, with the ADA receiver math done for you.
- Repair
Repair and project rescue
Hum, fading, dead zones or a system nobody uses. We measure, find the cause and fix it, whoever installed it.
- Existing loops
Loop Health Check visit
A flat-fee visit for venues with a loop already in place: spot measurements, a short report and a plan for adding Auracast.
- Commissioning
Commissioning and verification
IEC 60118-4 measurements for loops and documented walk tests for Auracast, with a written report you keep.
Also: design packages for AV integrators · remote design review · staff training
Proof
Measured, not assumed.
A design on screen is a prediction. We check every system with a meter before we hand it over, and you get the numbers in writing.
- Within ±3 dB (predicted)
- A little strong, beside the wire (hatched)
- 1 dB contours
- Loop wire
- A seat we’d measure
In plain English: green means a seat hears the loop at the right level, and the hatched strip by the wire runs a little strong. Each circle is a seat we would check with a meter before handover.
What you receive at handover
A report you can keep and show your board, plus everything the next technician needs.
- The commissioning report: predicted vs measured, every reading, every position outside the window
- As-built drawings with every wire position
- Amplifier and audio settings, written down
- Staff training, and a one-page guide for the sound desk
- Auracast walk-test record, stop by stop
Every proposal shows what Hearing Loop Designer or BroadcastPlan Pro predicts, labeled as a model prediction. The report shows what the meter found on a grid across the seating. When the two disagree, the meter wins.
Never locked in
Standard manufacturer equipment, full as-built drawings and a commissioning report at handover, so any qualified installer can service your system.
Loop or Auracast
Loop, Auracast, or both?
Our view, as of October 2026
Hearing loops still work with nothing more than the telecoil already in many hearing aids and cochlear implant processors: no app, no pairing, essentially no delay. Auracast reaches people a loop can’t, through compatible phones, earbuds and newer hearing aids, and usually needs no floor work.
But iPhones can’t join on their own yet, most hearing aids in use don’t support Auracast, and the ADA still calls for loan receivers. So our default is both, from the same audio mix, where a loop can be built, and Auracast with loan receivers and neckloops where it can’t.
Short answer
For most rooms, both: a hearing loop for today’s telecoil users, plus Auracast from the same audio feed, now or as a planned upgrade. Where a loop can’t be built, Auracast with loan receivers and neckloops.
Read the full loop vs Auracast guideYour sound systemmixer or DSPOne mixthe same audio feed
Loop driver + loopmagnetic field in the seatingTelecoil hearing aids and cochlear implant processors. No app, no pairing.
Auracast transmitterBluetooth LE Audio broadcastCompatible phones, earbuds and hearing aids, plus loan receivers with neckloops.
Process
How a project works
Six steps. The first is free, and the fifth one is a measurement.
Step 1: Text, email or call
A short conversation and a few photos tell us most of what we need. You get a written budget range, free.
Step 2: Site visit
We measure the floor, the metal in the building and your sound system. Existing loops get a health check. The fee is credited if you go ahead.
Step 3: Design and proposal
We model the room and send a fixed-scope written quote, with an Auracast option on every loop quote.
Step 4: Installation
Tidy, documented work, scheduled around your services, meetings and events.
Step 5: Commissioning report
We measure on a grid across the seating against IEC 60118-4, walk-test any Auracast, and give you the results in writing.
Step 6: Support
Staff training, signage, venue listings, and an annual check if you’d like one.
Pricing
Published prices, before you call
Our starting prices and typical ranges, as of October 2026. A fixed price follows a site visit.
| Visit or project | Price |
|---|---|
| Site visit or Loop Health Check visit | $500 |
| Counter or service-desk loop, installed | from $1,500 |
| Simple sanctuary or hall, up to about 300 seats | $3,500–6,000 |
| Our default: loop plus Auracast from one feed, simple sanctuary or hall up to about 300 seats | from $6,000 |
| Auracast added to a working loop | from $2,500 |
| Loan receivers are a separate line on loop jobs. Visit fees are credited in full within 90 days. | |
Most simple sanctuaries and halls, up to about 300 seats with ordinary construction, land at $3,500–6,000 installed, including design, the commissioning report, signage and staff training.
Steel, concrete, saw-cutting, balconies or privacy between rooms push a project higher. Every loop quote shows the Auracast option, so you can compare.
See every price range and what drives itWho you’ll work with
“The model is precise. The field is not. That’s why we measure every system before we hand it over.”
Over more than 15 years, David has personally installed, commissioned and troubleshot hundreds of hearing loop systems, primarily as a specialist subcontractor on projects led by established hearing-loop firms. He built Hearing Loop Designer and BroadcastPlan Pro, and uses them on every Equal Access Audio project. Whether you text, email or call, you deal with him directly.
More about David and how we work15+years of hands-on hearing loop work
Hundredsof systems, mostly as a specialist subcontractor
±3 dBthe IEC 60118-4 window every loop is measured against
2design tools, built by David and used on every proposal
Software
Built by the installer who uses it
David writes the design software Equal Access Audio uses on every job. Its predictions appear in our proposals, labeled as predictions.
Hearing loops
Hearing Loop Designer
Browser-based loop design: field-strength simulation, layouts from perimeter loops to low-spill phased arrays, metal-loss estimates, driver selection and installer drawings.
Auracast
BroadcastPlan Pro
Auracast planning from site survey to handover: transmitter placement, the ADA receiver count, a walk-test record and join cards for listeners.
Service area
Chicago-based. We work regularly across the Midwest, and farther for the right project.
Visit fees by distance, and where we workFAQ
Questions people ask first
What does a hearing loop do?
It sends the sound system straight into hearing aids and cochlear implant processors that have a telecoil, the small receiver behind the T or loop setting. The listener hears the microphone clearly, without the room’s echo and noise, with nothing to borrow and no app. Auracast does a similar job for compatible phones, earbuds and newer hearing aids.
Isn’t a hearing loop just a wire around the room?
The wire is the easy part. A loop is a designed magnetic field, and the building fights it. Steel in a concrete floor soaks up part of the signal, most of all the treble that carries consonants, and a simple perimeter loop sags in the middle of a wide room. We check the metal, choose the layout and size the driver before anything goes in, then measure the result.
Do you work on systems someone else installed?
Yes. We work on all major loop brands and on Auracast systems, whoever installed them. If your system is still under the original installer’s warranty, call them first; we’ll tell you if we think that’s the right move. We’re glad to work alongside the original installer.
Is Auracast ready for our venue?
For some listeners, yes. As of October 2026, compatible Android phones, earbuds and a growing number of hearing aids can join a broadcast, but iPhones can’t join an Auracast broadcast on their own yet and most hearing aids in use don’t support Auracast. That’s why we usually pair Auracast with a loop from the same audio feed, or plan it as an upgrade. Every loop quote we write shows the Auracast option.
Can Auracast meet the ADA on its own?
Not by itself. When an assembly area with amplified sound is built or altered, the 2010 ADA Standards call for loan receivers, a quarter of them usable with hearing aids through neckloops, plus signage. Auracast can be the system, but the receivers are still required. A loop that serves every seat is the one system that removes the hearing-aid-compatible count. Work out how many receivers your room needs. General information, not legal advice.
What does it cost to get started?
Nothing. The first call and a written budget range from your photos are free. A site visit is $500 within about an hour’s drive of Buffalo Grove, or anywhere on a day we’re already in your area; longer trips are quoted before you book. The full fee comes off the installation, repair or upgrade if you go ahead within 90 days, or within 180 days for grant-funded and board-approved projects when we agree it at booking. The same visit covers a survey for a new system, a health check of an existing loop, or a diagnostic visit for one that isn’t working.
Who services the system in ten years?
Any qualified installer. We use standard manufacturer equipment and hand over as-built drawings, settings and the commissioning report, so you’re never locked in to us. We’re glad to keep doing annual checks if you’d like.
Tell us about your room.
A few lines and some photos are enough to start. You’ll hear back from David within 2 business days, with no obligation.
- Sending details is free and commits you to nothing
- You talk to the person who does the work
- A written budget range from your photos, free