Longboat Key Publix to install system to help hearing impaired

LONGBOAT KEY -- The Publix on Longboat Key is helping test a new system designed to make shopping easier for hearing-impaired customers.

Typically used in concert venues and restaurants, the hearing-loop device will be used in Publix Super Markets at the pharmacy and in the checkout line to help customers block out ambient noise and focus on their transactions.

The system used in Publix stores has a roughly 5-foot range targeted to specific areas in the stores, Publix spokesman Brian West said.

"It's kind of like you walk into a bubble of no longer having ambient sound in the background," West said. "It drowns out all that ambient sound, so now they can have that dialogue without any distracting noise in the background. It makes having that interaction so much easier."

Hearing loops will be used in a single checkout lane in each store, at the customer service desk and in the pharmacy check-in and pharmacy check-out areas. These areas were chosen because a customer will pass through at least one during a Publix visit and they are areas where Publix employees have the most contact with customers, West said.

The system is only available in central Florida stores and southwest Florida stores.

"We identified stores with demographics that had customers with the most need," West said. "Then we picked a handful that gave us a spot in each one of those locations; Fort Myers, Venice, Longboat (Key), Sun City (Center), and The Villages. Right now they're really scattered."

The loop system works with hearing aids made with T-coils -- 70 percent to 75 percent of hearing aids in the United States are made with T-coils, said Paula Creamer Cook, marketing director for Central Florida Speech and Hearing.

Customers using hearing aids made without T-coils can use special headsets called a loop listener. People not using hearing aids can also use loop listeners for a personal radio-like experience, Creamer Cook said.

West would not say how much Publix spent on the systems, but Creamer Cook said each individual loop can run between $350 and $500. The Publix stores use four different loops in four areas of the store.

"It's such a range because it depends on what other technology is being used," Creamer Cook said.

Three area stores are installing or have installed the hearing loop: the Longboat Key store at 525 Bay Isles Parkway; and two Venice stores, 1445 East Venice Ave.

and 345 Jacaranda Blvd.

Individual store managers will decide whether the system is necessary or desired at their Publix store location.

Andy Lappin, manager at the Longboat Key Publix, said the store has installed the system but is still waiting on a couple of other pieces to make it fully functional.

West said the Venice stores have the systems installed and in use.

The hearing loop enhances hearing aid function by using an electromagnetic signal to turn the hearing aid into a wireless speaker.

Publix began testing the hearing loop system in the summer of 2012 and piloted it in several stores in 2013.

Janelle O'Dea, business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7095. Follow her on twitter @jayohday.

This story was originally published March 31, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Longboat Key Publix to install system to help hearing impaired ."