Summary
A one-page note telling court interpreters in Australia how to use the court's listening receivers, which it calls hearing loop receivers.
Key findings
- Says all courts should have the receivers readily available and provide them to interpreters on request; the receiver, about the size of a mobile phone, is used with new detachable earphones that the interpreter keeps.
- Describes the microphones in front of the judge, barristers and witness box as switched on "at all times", with the system relaying the voices they pick up to the receiver, and calls the receiver the most useful piece of assistive technology in the courtroom for an interpreter.
- Says a witness or defendant can also ask for a receiver, but warns that a listener who follows the proceedings through a receiver while the interpreter whispers the interpretation will hear the interpreter's voice both live and through the receiver, which makes whispered interpreting difficult.
- Notes that some courts also have separate simultaneous interpreting equipment, and advises interpreters on longer proceedings to ask for it.
Limits
A tip sheet for interpreters, not a test. Although it calls them hearing loop receivers, it describes receivers used with earphones and does not name the transmission technology. Last updated July 2026, according to the note.
Read the original
ausit.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Hearing-Loops-for-use-in-court.pdf
Cited in
- What works in courtrooms, council chambers and other meeting rooms where speech must be heard by all and kept in the room?Partly answered
Cite this source
AUSIT (Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators). Hearing loop receivers for use in court. AUSIT. July 2026. https://ausit.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Hearing-Loops-for-use-in-court.pdf (accessed 9 October 2026).
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