UND student union to be outfitted with technology for hard of hearing

Loop, a system that transmits sound from a PA system directly to the hearing aids of people in the room, is being installed in the new student center’s ballroom and nearby multipurpose room, set to open in the coming months. The technology essentially turns each device into a miniature loudspeaker for its owner.

The Memorial Union will host a number of functions when it opens, including big events like Wake Up to UND.

“Often at those events, there are so many of us with hearing impairments who lose half of what’s being said, and who are guessing at the other half. But now that the room has been Looped, we’ll hear it all, clear as a bell. It’s an amazing technology,” Keith Holly told UND Today. Holly works for Modern Technology, Inc., the Grand Forks-based company that installed the Memorial Union’s Loop systems in recent weeks.

Modern Technology laid down more than a mile of flat copper wire in the UND Memorial Union as part of the Loop technology system, according to a UND Today release.

The work at the Memorial Union is apparently the first major installation of the Loop system in North Dakota, Richard Wakefield, co-owner of Modern Technology, said in the UND Today release.

“Loops have been popular in Europe for many years, but they’ve spread across the United States only more recently,” he said.

The technology is also in other venues in the area, including some churches, auditoriums, a ticket booth in the Ralph Engelstad Arena and the local courthouse.

The technology consists of an amplifier that’s connected to the room’s PA system, and a wire. That wire broadcasts the PA system’s audio in a way that most modern hearing aids can detect.

The Loop can take a signal straight from the speaker’s microphone and screen out the background noise.

Even those who do not have hearing aids will be able to utilize the technology if they need it. Portable units with headphones or other earpieces will be made available at Memorial Union events, UND said.

The new Memorial Union building likely will be open this summer. Students voted in late 2018 to increase student fees to pay for the new building, which is estimated to cost around $80 million. A vast majority of the building is being funded by student fees, with UND chipping in $250,000 a year for operating expenses in addition to covering the overhead and direct operating expenses for non-student use.

The new student center will feature a Chick-fil-A, a Panda Express and a Starbucks. Additionally, there will be expanded space for student organizations, the large ballroom and a study stairwell, where students will be able to sit and study or listen to speakers.

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