Hearing loops in court proceedings: The good, the bad and the squeaky

Summary

A court intermediary company's account of hearing loops in courts in England and Wales, with a case in which a remote video link made a loop unusable, and its suggestions for intermediaries and courts.

Key findings

• Describes a hearing in which a service user was given loop equipment with headphones. When the prosecution barrister began speaking remotely over the Cloud Video Platform link, the loop produced "a very loud squealing sound"; the service user stopped using it and relied on the intermediary's summaries.
• Says the loop "picks up every sound", from typing to the shuffling of papers, and that this background noise affects how well speech can be heard.
• Cites an anonymous account of a respondent offered an infrared receiver with earbuds, which would have meant removing the hearing aids the respondent depended on.
• Recommends learning about the person's hearing beforehand, avoiding hybrid hearings, trialling the equipment in advance, giving the person a way to signal difficulty and a self-rating scale, reducing background noise and choosing seating that helps lip-reading.
• Its case study describes a party joining remotely making the hearing loop generate considerable feedback, a very loud squealing sound, and it advises avoiding hybrid hearings because remote attendance can cause feedback for loop users.

Limits

A practitioner article with one case described in outline and no measurements; it does not name the court or the equipment, or say how the remote audio was connected to the loop. Its figures on Crown Court loops and its quotation from a judge come from sources recorded separately here.

Read the original

www.communicourt.co.uk/news/hearing-loops-court-proceedings

Link checked 9 October 2026. We link to the original and do not host copies.

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

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