How assistive listening can help you
Understanding speech in public spaces can be difficult because of background noise and reverberation.
Background noise can mask the speech you’re trying to listen to.
Reverberation is when sound travels in a room and bounces off walls and surfaces, making the sound less clear.
Hearing loss makes it even harder to understand speech in public spaces. Turning up the volume does not help with reverberation, because the echoes get louder as well.
An assistive listening system (ALS) sends clean audio directly to your ears. This means you can hear speech, music, or announcements more clearly, because there’s no reverberation or background noise.
You won’t need to concentrate so hard to understand the words, and music will sound better too.
Where you can find assistive listening
You can expect to find an ALS in public venues such as cinemas, theatres, places of worship, and public transport.
You can also use an ALS at home, to help you better enjoy TV, radio, or music.
You can use portable assistive listening devices to make conversations clearer.
How assistive listening works
An ALS transmits audio to your hearing device using wireless technology.
To hear the audio, you need a compatible receiver.
Some hearing devices, such as hearing aids, implants and headphones, have a built-in ALS receiver. This is the most convenient option. Look out for hearing devices which are compatible with a hearing loop and Auracast.
If a venue uses an ALS which requires a separate receiver, they’ll provide one for you. Check with the venue if you’re not sure.
We encourage venues to provide both a hearing loop and Auracast. They can both be used in the same space at the same time. This means that as many people as possible can benefit.
