Hearing-impaired theatre goers disappointed says survey

Summary

A trade-press report of a UK survey of 143 people with hearing loss about going to theatres and concerts, including which assistive listening system they prefer.

Key findings

• Reports that 143 people with mild to profound hearing loss completed the survey; 94% said their hearing had led to a poor experience at theatres or concerts, and 83% had been disappointed because the right provision was not available.
• Reports that 77% preferred an induction loop to an infrared or FM system.
• Lists the improvements respondents chose: less background music during speech (73%), an assistive listening system (66%), clear speech (65%), captions (64%) and more volume (25%); staff speaking clearly and facing the person was named as the change that would make the greatest single difference, at the ticket office (71%) and with ushers (67%).

Limits

A news report of a survey whose method, recruitment, dates and question wording are not given; the full report was not found, as the organisation's survey page no longer loads. The sample is small. The page was updated on 14 December 2016.

Read the original

lsionline.co.uk/news/hearing-impaired-theatre-goers-disappointed-says-survey--m7402i

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

Cited in

• What do listeners prefer, and how often do they use venue systems?Partly answered
• Where does infrared assistive listening work, and where does it fall short?Partly answered
• What works in theatres and cinemas, and what do the rules ask of them?Partly answered

Cite this source

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/lsi-2016-ideas-for-ears-survey/

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