'Going to make the experience better': Regina Folk Festival piloting hearing loop project

Hearing loops will be tested out at the outdoor festival to allow for better sound quality for those using them. (Photo courtesy of the Regina Folk Festival)

The Regina Folk Festival (RFF) is increasing accessibility at this years’ event by piloting a project to help concertgoers improve their listening experience.

Josh Haugerud, executive director of the RFF, said hearing loops will be tested out at the outdoor festival to allow for better sound quality for those using them.

“What this does is gives an opportunity for those who maybe have issues with hearing or have issues with sound sensitivity, or distractions like ADD, to have the sound at the level that they want and to be able to focus a little bit better on what’s going on, on stage standing in that area,” he said during an interview.

Hearing loops are wires that are buried into the ground in a circular or squared configuration and connect to the festival’s soundboard.

“You can actually listen to the sound directly from the soundboard while you stand within that loop if you have one of the receivers or if you have hearing aids or implants that can be used with the coil technology and you can tune directly into that sound,” Haugerud explained.

In Canada, 4.6 million people have hearing loss, which is often considered an invisible condition according to Haugerud.

Through a partnership with Hearing Loops Canada and funding through the City of Regina, the RFF was given five of the receivers to test. For the pilot project this year, Haugerud said they gave weekend passes to select participants in exchange for providing feedback on the loops.

“We invited folks who have hearing aids to use it, so that we can test that as well as the implants. We also invited folks from the Autism Resource Centre to come out and try it out and use those receivers so we can get an idea of how each of the different things function within this hearing loop,” he said.

While this year’s goal is to test the project out at the summer festival and work out any issues, Haugerud said eventually, they would like it to grow year after year.

“We just want to make sure that it works as best as it can at the festival, we get all of the hiccups out of the way, so that next year when we present it to the public as they’re coming on their own, it runs smoothly,” he said.

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“This is a technology that we’re going to be able to use indoors and outdoors.”

He said the technology can be used by anyone who has issues with sound being too loud, not loud enough, too muddled or any other reason.

“It could just create a better experience for anybody coming to the festival and a majority of those people that are going to use it, have those conditions that are invisible like hearing loss and mental health issues,” he said.

Haugerud said some representatives from Hearing Loops Canada will be traveling from Alberta to help set up the equipment and provide training to RFF staff.

“It’s a very technical thing but ultimately, it’s very simple. It’s just going to make the experience better for people,” he said.

He said the RFF would like to do a full accessibility audit in the future so they can understand all of the places that are not accessible to people.

“That’s our goal is everything we do is for the community and making sure that people feel welcome and can be their whole selves when they’re at the festival and this is just one more way that we can do that.”

The Regina Folk Festival will take place from Aug. 5 to Aug. 7 in Victoria Park.