Summary
A short UK government guide for meeting organisers on including people with hearing or sight loss, with advice on running a meeting with a loop.
Key findings
- Says that a single microphone attached to a loop causes problems when several people contribute, and that ideally several "roving" microphones should be available to pass round.
- Asks that loops be switched on and tested before meetings begin, that the microphone be passed to each speaker in turn, and that only one person speak into the microphone.
- Asks that mobile phones be switched off completely, since they can interfere with hearing aids, and that organisers ask the venue's sound engineer how the microphones work and how best to speak into them.
- Notes that room loops can be fixed or portable, and that not all hearing aids have a T position.
Limits
Brief good-practice advice based on members' experience of meetings with older people, without data; it covers loops only and dates from 2011.
Read the original
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7b6baee5274a34770eb93b/making-meetings-accessible.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
- What works in hotel meeting rooms and conference centres, and what do the rules ask of them?Partly answered
Cite this source
Department for Work and Pensions and the UK Advisory Forum on Ageing (guides commissioned by the English Forums on Ageing). A handy guide to: Making meetings accessible. Department for Work and Pensions (GOV.UK, series Good practice on holding meetings with older people). 5 August 2011. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7b6baee5274a34770eb93b/making-meetings-accessible.pdf (accessed 9 October 2026).
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