Summary
The standards for refurbishing and building court and tribunal buildings in England and Wales, including hearing enhancement systems, microphones and acoustic privacy.
Key findings
- Says hearing enhancement systems should be provided at HMCTS sites in accordance with industry standards and current legislation, and that the audio enhancement in each hearing room must include systems to assist hearing-impaired people.
- Lists hearing enhancement systems and microphones among the technology requirements of hearing rooms, with microphones and screens for the judiciary, legal advisers, clerks, court associates, advocates, witnesses and defendants, and access to microphones for probation and youth justice teams.
- Its mechanical and electrical data sheets mark an induction loop for hearing rooms, reception, consultation rooms, waiting areas, the open justice viewing area, video link rooms and video hearing booths, and a hearing enhancement system, technology not named, for the jury assembly room, jury retiring room and meeting rooms.
- Asks for clear and visible signs for hearing enhancement systems, and for a hearing enhancement system at reception desks when existing buildings are refurbished.
- Treats speech clarity in hearing rooms and privacy between adjoining areas as the prime acoustic aims, and asks for hearing rooms to have sound separation from adjacent rooms and circulation routes.
Limits
Design guidance for HMCTS buildings: it sets no performance figures for hearing enhancement systems, leaves the amplification specification to detailed design, says nothing about keeping loops in neighbouring rooms apart, and does not mention infrared listening systems, Bluetooth or Auracast. Many data-sheet entries are left to be decided project by project.
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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
HM Courts & Tribunals Service. Court and Tribunal Design Guide, version 3.1. HM Courts & Tribunals Service (GOV.UK). 13 August 2025. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/689c56779a65499b44636190/court-and-tribunal-design-guide-V3.1.pdf (accessed 9 October 2026).
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