Project: CHOICE Humanitarian

Founded in 1982, CHOICE Humanitarian is a West Jordan, Utah-based nonprofit that supports rural village development in seven foreign countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nepal, and Kenya.

Challenge

Every few years, CHOICE hosts an in-country director’s (ICD) conference where staff members, members of the board, special guests and dignitaries, and all directors from around the world gather in one location to share best practices and learn and grow together for the betterment of the organization. In August 2019, CHOICE hosted the ICD conference in Kamas, Utah, and sought help communicating with non-English speaking attendees. Local, professional interpreters volunteered their time and expertise to support CHOICE, but the non-profit needed equipment to broadcast interpreted information to attendees and facilitate collaboration.

Solution

CHOICE looked to long-time partner Listen Technologies for help. The assistive listening products manufacturer had partnered with CHOICE for ICD conferences in the past. For the 2019 conference, Listen Technologies once again provided equipment that would enable clear audio communication and collaboration among all attendees.

Listen Technologies offered CHOICE use of 32 ListenTALK units. The transceivers (combination transmitter-receiver) enabled non-English speaking participants to listen via headphones to interpreters translating in their preferred language in real time. Participants could also share information and respond to questions by pressing and holding the “talk” button and speaking into a mic on the unit. Translators would hear them and be able to translate their commentary into English and other languages for other participants.

Result

By using ListenTALK at the ICD conference, CHOICE:

• – Simplified Communication – Intuitive, universal design and functionality of ListenTALK supported ease of use and delivered clear audio.
• –Increased engagement – Assistive listening technology helped participants overcome the challenges of noise, distance, clashing conversations and hearing loss.
• –Fostered collaboration – Convenient, real-time language translation facilitated communication and participation among English and non-English speaking attendees.

Because everyone deserves the same great experience.