What a year 2025 was – and the involvement of our Research Panel members made it all possible.
Last year, our research panel helped shape products, services and systems across the UK.
By sharing their experiences with us, they’ve helped to make life more accessible for people who are deaf or have hearing loss. To all our panel members, thank you for helping to drive change in 2025!
Here’s what we did together…
TV, media and entertainment
- We worked with Channel 4 to evaluate subtitles used in live broadcasting, helping to improve the quality and accessibility of subtitling in future.
- Supported Stagetext to understand audience perspectives on subtitling quality, helping to improve captioning at live events.
Technology and new products
- Worked with Sonos on their new speech enhancement feature. Your input changed how engineers understood hearing loss and approached the design of the feature. This led to a stronger ‘max’ speech setting that’s easy to find and really makes a difference.
Health and care
- We worked with the NHS App team to improve accessibility by gathering your feedback on the experience using it and reviewing ideas for new navigation.
- We conducted major work on the Accessible Information Standard and published the report “Still Ignored: The Fight for Accessible Healthcare”, which was based on the experiences and insights shared by you.
- We set out a bold, achievable vision for an alternative future for hearing healthcare, shaped by your ideas on how to help improve audiology services of the future.
Travel and public spaces
- We began a research project, which is being generously funded by the Motability Foundation, that aims to make public transport more accessible for people who are deaf or have hearing loss. To date, surveys, interviews, focus groups and a community advisory board have helped to guide the work, with more to come in 2026.
- Tested Auracast at Bristol Temple Meads station with Ampetronic, which enabled people to hear station announcements clearly for the first time. Station staff were able see first-hand why this technology matters so much to people who are deaf or have hearing loss.
Everyday life and public services
- We helped the Electoral Commission to make voting more accessible for deaf BSL users through the creation of a series of BSL videos explaining how to register and vote, based on your feedback.
- We worked with BT to conduct home visits to highlight real-life challenges of the digital phone switchover for people who are deaf or have hearing loss, to make the switchover process more accessible.
Why this matters
Because of our Research Panel members:
- Companies have changed how they design their products.
- Healthcare is becoming more accessible.
- New technology has been tested in real places.
Thank you for helping to drive change in 2025. We couldn’t have done any of this without you and we’re excited to build on this momentum in 2026.
What’s coming up in 2026
Building on the insight our Research Panel helped us gather last year, we’ll be launching a major survey in early 2026 to explore the experiences of people who are deaf or have hearing loss when using public transport. This will form a key part of our research project that is being funded by the Motability Foundation.
We’d love you to share your experiences and help us push for a more accessible public transport system for everyone.
