On a semi-related topic, at a recent performance in our theatre, a patron's hearing aid started whining....screeching...howling.  I didn't know what to do.  There really was nothing that could be done. But later, I mused that often prior to the curtain opening on a show, someone will remind the audience to turn off cell phones, pagers, etc, etc, (you know the speech) but never is there anything said about out-of-control hearing aids.  I know, it wouldn't be PC.  But the fact remains that it is very distracting to others...is there a way to deal with such a problem?  May of our patrons are of the elderly persuasion and that can be the segment of the population which often use sound augmentation devices.  Any ideas?

G?day Kathy

Have a word with your local Audiologists or hearing centre, there is possibly something simple you can do, like ensuring that you cabling is shielded &/or the power & audio cables cross at a 90 degree angle, not higledy pigledy installed, resembling a dogs breakfast! Also there is sufficient air gap between your AC & audio cables. In most cases the offending cables are in the ceiling over head! Under floor tends to give better insulation & gives less permeability of E/MMMF.

But being a mere sparky, I tend to put this in the Audio Techs pigeon hole. I found audio & refrigeration techs to be much of a muchness, they always give 49 999 reasons why it doesn?t work, when in most cases a screwdriver &/or a big hamper will fix it!

Disclaimer;- I don?t suggest using the my latter method on your ?Blue Rinse Set? punters! As this invariably involves a lot of paper work & diminishes your percentage of bums on seats demographics. - ?n River City just ain?t that big!

One other thing that might be a possibility? Does it occur on lighting cue changes, via the dimmer racks!

If it does my friend, then you got trouble - Terrible terrible trouble ?. With a capital T & that rhymes with E that stands for Electric Motive Force & other things?

But that can be fixed with a wave of the hand!

?Cause it ain?t the lights but the audio - which obviously don?t help you one bit!

Get advice from your local boffin!

Actually there is a very simple way & that is to drop the earth from the audio system powere feed, but get a qualified sparky to do it & check it first before attempting, to make sure it is safe to do so or just purchase a cheap audio power filter, which plugs in to the main general power outlet feed to the audio system

I don?t know if this helps your situation, but it is possibly better than being stuck up a gum tree!

Let me know how you get on Kathy!

As always Yours in Theatre

chookas!

One thing I should have mentioned to all those, other than the black ducks on the board, is that there is nothing magical in an electrical system, it all comes down to just one main thing!

This you will realise, after a while, if you gain any electrical qualifications.

Electricity is very simple & it is not based on electrons & all that mystical stuff!

There is just one thing!

Smoke!

That is all it is!

To prove this out, this will manifests it?s self, on occasions, especialy when electrical equipment starts smoking?

What this means, is that it must be working & it is only being fed too much smoke!

Thus proving out the point  

While there may be some sort of electrical/audio problem in play here, we've found in our theater that hearing aid feedback is mainly due to one thing -- a patron can't hear the lines very well, so they turn up the volume on their hearing aids. When the volume onstage increases, they get feedback. We take hearing aid feedback as a sign that the actors need to work on their projection!

Chris! As I?m just a mere male, I bow to your logic! 

While bowing, I?m reminded of my situation here!

My wife & son both have hearing aids, which give impromptu whistling duets on cue, while we are ensconced in watching the goggle box, always at the punch line or interesting bits!

Sean has now bought a new digital hearing aid recently. While the old type, that Joyce has, keeps whistling along merrily!

I think Sean definitely needs to take his back under warranty, there is something wrong with it & it needs to be fixed!

He must have got a dud one! Because the whistle is missing or it don?t work properly?

What is weird about it, is when the whistling occurs, she doesn?t seem to hear it, until I mention that she is out of tune again!

I may have to get her fitted with a noise filter!

Elsewhere in this discussion board JDHaller asked about "Assisted Listening Devices".  Check out my comments there about installing an inductive loop system for hearing-aids.

Cheers