Assistive Listening Knowledge Base
  • Regulation (state accessibility regulation)

521 CMR 16.00: Houses of Worship (Architectural Access Board regulations, 2006 edition)

From https://assistivelisteningknowledgebase.org/evidence/massachusetts-aab-2006-houses-of-worship/ · record checked 9 October 2026

  • Massachusetts Architectural Access Board
  • Commonwealth of Massachusetts (mass.gov)

Government (Massachusetts Architectural Access Board, part of the state's Division of Occupational Licensure)

Summary

The Massachusetts accessibility regulation written specifically for houses of worship, including when they need an assistive listening system, how many receivers, and which areas it should serve.

Key findings

  • Houses of worship must comply with 521 CMR except where section 16.00 modifies it; they include "churches, chapels, temples, synagogues and mosques", and the spaces that must be accessible include areas open to the congregation, administrative offices, and religious meeting halls and classrooms. Day care centres in houses of worship follow the rules for educational facilities.
  • Where audible communication is integral to the use of a space, an assembly area must have a permanently installed assistive listening system if it accommodates at least 50 people, has an audio-amplification system and has fixed seating (16.5.1).
  • Other assembly areas need a permanent system, or a portable system with enough outlets or wiring to support it, and the minimum number of receivers is 4% of the total number of seats, never fewer than two (16.5.2). Section 16.00 sets no hearing-aid-compatible share.
  • If the system serves individual fixed seats, they must be within 50 feet (15 m) of the speaker's podium with a complete view of it, and the system "should serve all participants whether seated in balconies, among the general audience or upon the altar and the podium areas" (16.5.3).
  • Requires signs telling patrons that a listening system is available, under the state's signage rules (16.5.4); names no transmission technology.
  • The Board's regulations page says 521 CMR applies to all buildings and facilities in Massachusetts open to members of the public, naming places of worship among them, and lists the 2006 edition as the current edition.

Limits

Only section 16.00 was read; other parts of 521 CMR that it refers to (such as signage) and any performance requirements elsewhere were not checked. The regulation predates Auracast and current Wi-Fi systems. The date is the page date printed on the 2006 edition (27 January 2006). Mass.gov refused automated downloads, so the PDF was read in a browser.

Read the original

www.mass.gov/doc/521-cmr-1600-houses-of-worship-2006-pdf/download

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Cited in

Cite this source

Massachusetts Architectural Access Board. 521 CMR 16.00: Houses of Worship (Architectural Access Board regulations, 2006 edition). Commonwealth of Massachusetts (mass.gov). 27 January 2006. https://www.mass.gov/doc/521-cmr-1600-houses-of-worship-2006-pdf/download (accessed 9 October 2026).

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