Hearing what’s said at meetings & events

People feel strongly

Our research illustrates that people very much want to attend and join in meetings and events but hostile hearing conditions mean they are struggling to do so. Not surprisingly, people are experiencing strong feelings, including hopelessness, helplessness, embarrassment, frustration and anger.

Noise and acoustics

Noise and poor acoustics are often the main culprits. The noise generated by the babble of conversation is especially difficult.  To combat this, there is a need for much better management of noise and acoustics by venues and facility managers and building designers.

Other difficulties

Barriers are created in ordinary ways. For instance: people not speaking clearly, microphones not being used when they should be, and words and information that are easy to mishear or misunderstand not being written down.  It is perhaps because they are so ordinary that they get neglected.

We must not forget …

For some people, of course, the barriers are caused by lack of text transcription or lack of sign language provision. Their needs should not be overlooked even whilst we push for better recognition that, for the majority, the challenges are often much more ordinary.