Assistive Listening Knowledge Base
  • Local audit report (volunteer field checks)

Hearing Loops in Central Southampton: Auditing hearing loops in shops and restaurants across central Southampton

From https://assistivelisteningknowledgebase.org/evidence/healthwatch-southampton-2018-central-loops/ · record checked 13 October 2026

  • Lets Loop Southampton and Healthwatch Southampton
  • Lets Loop Southampton

Independent (Lets Loop Southampton and Healthwatch Southampton volunteer audit; separate audit funding is not specified; the report describes a £4,000 GoSouthampton contribution for businesses to obtain loops)

Summary

Volunteers visiting 295 central Southampton shops in 2017 found loops in 39, and described faults, missing signs and repairs following the visits.

Key findings

  • The John Lewis case study dates its audit to March 2017 (printed page 8). The St Mary's Stadium case study says a March 2017 Saints Store audit led to a later stadium visit and discussion, without dating that visit or describing its test procedure (printed page 9). The shop methodology lists checks and staff questions but does not specify a meter or listening receiver (printed page 6).
  • Trained volunteers visited 295 shops during 2017, checking loop availability and operation and asking about signs, whether loops stayed on, staff training, named staff and evidence of regular testing (page 6).
  • The publisher-hosted PDF table counts 39 of 295 locations (13%) as fitted with loops, including 18 of 128 in West Quay and none of 42 in Marlands; it counts presence rather than a published total of functioning loops (page 7).
  • The publisher-hosted PDF says four of 29 newly built Watermark shops and restaurants had loops, and all five Costa branches visited had loops and signs (page 7).
  • ASDA’s loop was present but not operating correctly; Body Shop repaired a faulty loop after the audit, and John Lewis repaired three affected loops and added signage (pages 7-8).
  • After concerns about a poor-quality ticket-office loop and missing provision at St Mary’s Stadium, the report describes improvements and installation of more than 20 loops there (page 9).
  • One hearing-aid user and volunteer, Keith, describes difficulty following shop staff amid background noise and music without a loop, and reports that loops help communication (page 5).
  • Two public PDF versions differ on pages 6-7. The publisher-hosted version gives West Quay as 18 of 128 locations, Hanover/Queensway as four of 23, Watermark as four of 29, and loops and signs at five of five Costa branches. The Healthwatch-hosted version gives the corresponding figures as 18 of 113, four of 38, four of 24, and four of five. Both give 39 of 295 overall. Neither version identifies a revision date that establishes which figures supersede the others.

Limits

One city's volunteer audit and improvement campaign, with no published field-strength measurements, speech scores, count of functioning loops across all 295 sites, aggregate signage results or breakdown by portable versus fixed systems. The listener account is one person's experience. Both PDFs print 2018; Healthwatch's catalogue lists 1 April 2018, so year precision is retained. The catalogue's four-of-five Costa count agrees with its linked PDF; the publisher-hosted PDF gives five of five. The area and branch figures differ between versions and should be attributed to the copy used. Reported repairs and new installations have no published follow-up measurements. The methodology and results do not record installer qualifications or compare training routes, and do not separate initial installation quality from later upkeep.

Read the original

letsloopsouthampton.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Hearing-Loops-in-Central-Southampton-Report.pdf

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

Cited in

Cite this source

Lets Loop Southampton and Healthwatch Southampton. Hearing Loops in Central Southampton: Auditing hearing loops in shops and restaurants across central Southampton. Lets Loop Southampton. 2018. https://letsloopsouthampton.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Hearing-Loops-in-Central-Southampton-Report.pdf (accessed 13 October 2026).

The accessed date is when this library last checked the link; use the date you read it. To point readers to this summary instead, link to https://assistivelisteningknowledgebase.org/evidence/healthwatch-southampton-2018-central-loops/

Every finding here cites its source, and who funded each source is labelled. This site does not recommend products. Found an error or a missing study? Suggest a correction.