By Jacqueline Gilvard Landry
Voice correspondent

“The first thing I understood was a song, and I was very happy. I could understand the words of the song, and usually I couldn’t,” said 13-year-old Michaela Mullin of All Saints Parish in Hayward.

Michaela Mullin and her father Steve Mullin sing during Mass at All Saints Church in Hayward. Greg Tarczynski photo

Mullin was born with profound hearing loss in both ears, and even with the cochlear implant that allows her to process and hear sounds, the church’s acoustics made her struggle to make out words and music at Mass.

“I could understand a few words, like ‘good morning’ or ‘afternoon,’ ‘the word of the Lord’ and so on, but for the most part, it (was) not understandable,” she said.

But last fall, All Saints began to offer at Mass “assisted listening devices”—special headsets that are hooked into the church’s sound system, magnifying the sound of anything that comes through the microphones, like the homily, the hymns and the readings.

Michaela said she has a similar device at Lincoln Middle School in Alameda where she just finished the seventh-grade, but it is school property that she cannot take home.

“When these listening devices were available for me, it made me feel happy that I could understand the Mass for the first time,” she said.

“It is important to me that I was able to learn the stories the way everyone else does,” she added, instead of just following along with the missalette.

The assisted listening system was the fruit of the efforts of Steve Mullin, the All Saints parish life director who also happens to be Michaela’s father.

The device Greg Tarczynski photo

“Because I am the father of a hearing-impaired child,” he said, “I became aware that she could not understand what was being spoken at Mass. I also spoke to a number of older parishioners and others who used hearing aids and they said it was difficult to understand the spoken or sung word.”

Steve Mullin said he was putting in a new sound system and speakers in the church, so he decided to add the assisted listening devices. They consist of a rechargeable receiver “about the size of an iPod (music player),” a power switch, volume control and ear phones that can be worn alone or over a hearing aid or cochlear implant.

Some other parishes in the diocese have similar hearing devices available at Mass.

“(M)y father realized that I should be able to hear the Gospel and embrace it instead of reading it from the book,” Michaela Mullin said. “I also wanted to be able to hear the singing, readings and especially the Gospel.”

Michaela got her wish last fall when her dad invited her to try out the device. “The first Gospel I understood was about Peter traveling across the lake with his friend on a boat, and then came a big storm,” she said. “After that, Peter saw Jesus walking across the lake and asked him, ‘Let me walk on the water with you,’” she continued, before recounting other details of the reading.

Michaela Mullin listens to the Gospel while using an assisted listening device during Mass. Greg Tarczynski photo

“When I was reading from the book, it didn’t interest me, but when I heard the story I felt like I was watching the event,” she said.

Having the events come alive for his daughter was emotional for Steve Mullin. “I had tears in my eyes and was overjoyed,” he said.

Other parishioners have also had an emotional reaction after using the assisted listening device. “I have had people who use it come up to me and tell me with tears in their eyes that it was the first time they had heard the Gospel or priest’s prayers in years,” he remarked.

For parishioner John Kyle, the hearing devices are “a big improvement.” The retired real estate appraiser said All Saints is a “big, cavernous church” with poor acoustics, and even with his hearing aid, he was having trouble understanding the words at Mass, until he used the headsets.

“It’s a good device . . . especially if a parish has a lot of older folks,” Kyle said.

Most users are older parishioners who are hard of hearing, Steve Mullin said, but a few are hearing-impaired like Michaela. He said up to seven people at each Mass are using the devices, which they can pick up at church before Mass and return afterward, free of charge.

All Saints Parish paid for the system, which costs the parish less than $1,000 for six headsets, plus the amplifying box. Some parishioners donated money for the headsets “after they experienced what (the system) does for them.”

That’s a bargain for a parish, and priceless for the Mullins. “Because I can hear the Mass, I feel more connected with the church and I can understand Jesus better,” Michaela said.

With that kind of return on investment, Steve Mullin thinks “all parishes should have these devices.”

“My only regret is that I should have done this sooner,” he said.

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