Summary
The Department of Justice's explanation of how the 2010 ADA Standards changed the assistive listening rules from the 1991 Standards, and its answers to public comments.
Key findings
- Explains that the 1991 Standards required receivers for at least 4% of fixed seats; the 2010 table keeps 4% for small facilities and lowers the percentage as facilities get larger.
- Describes the new rule that at least 25% of receivers, and no fewer than two, must be hearing-aid compatible, and says assembly areas served by an induction loop do not have to provide hearing-aid-compatible receivers.
- Notes that the 1991 Standards had no technical requirements for assistive listening systems, while section 706 adds standard mono jacks, neckloops for hearing-aid-compatible receivers, and limits on sound pressure level, signal-to-noise ratio and peak clipping; it states that currently available systems typically met these.
- Says a restaurant counts as an assembly area only if it presents programs to educate or entertain diners and provides audio amplification.
- Kept the exception that allows signs at ticket windows instead of at each assembly area, despite a comment that people who buy tickets online or by mail may never pass the window.
Limits
Written in 2010, before Auracast existed; it does not mention Bluetooth. Explains the Standards but does not change them.
Read the original
www.ada.gov/law-and-regs/design-standards/standards-guidance
Cited in
- Which systems satisfy the ADA and building codes, and does a listener's own phone count?Disputed
- How many receivers and neckloops does each code require, and how should a loan pool be run?Partly answered
- How do listeners learn that a venue has assistive listening, and which signs and symbols do the rules ask for?Partly answered
- What works in theatres and cinemas, and what do the rules ask of them?Partly answered
- How many people in an audience are likely to need assistive listening?Partly answered
Cite this source
US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. Guidance on the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (section "219 and 706 Assistive Listening Systems"). ada.gov. 15 September 2010. https://www.ada.gov/law-and-regs/design-standards/standards-guidance/ (accessed 9 October 2026).
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