Clear Signals: improving transport accessibility for deaf people and people with hearing loss

Summary

A UK survey of 1,762 deaf people and people with hearing loss about public transport, with a concept test of Auracast station announcements at Bristol Temple Meads in March 2026.

Key findings

• The Technical Appendix (pp. 6-8) dates survey collection to 16 March-13 April 2026, through the RNID Research Panel, charity newsletter, social media, contacts and organisations, plus Survation and Norstat. Questions and answers were available in English and BSL. The analysed sample was 1,762, including 283 people using BSL in any capacity; 34 proxy responses and 117 responses from people who had not used public transport in two years were excluded.
• The Technical Appendix's improvements table (p. 44) asks respondents to select up to five changes that would most improve accessibility. Clearer announcements delivered directly to hearing devices were selected by 47% of all 1,762 respondents and 37% of the overlapping 283-person BSL subgroup. The item does not name a transmission technology.
• In the survey, 47% chose clearer audio announcements delivered directly to hearing devices as an improvement, the fourth most chosen. RNID notes that the technology is unfamiliar to most people, so demand is likely under-reported.
• Ten people (eight hearing aid users and two cochlear implant users, technical appendix page 10, Figure 3) were asked to behave as if catching a specified train, following live announcements, then joined focus groups. One already had Auracast in their hearing device, two used a loaned Android phone with a dongle receiver, and the rest used a loaned neckloop receiver with their telecoil setting.
• Participants found the announcements clearer and easier to understand with Auracast, and most could not understand them without it. They valued being able to move around the platform.
• Requested improvements: easier finding and joining of broadcasts, signage and website information, an audio alert before each announcement, and coverage tested so there are no dead spots. People whose hearing device had a telecoil-plus-microphone setting found it easier to balance the stream with surrounding sound.
• Its executive summary asks for announcements to be made accessible through technologies such as hearing loops, Auracast and, where possible, BSL translation.
• Quotes a respondent aged 65-74 in Greater London: "Even when I twist to the loop setting, the noise level still gets to me"; 72% said noise often or always makes information harder to access.
• The report's Acknowledgements credit the Motability Foundation with funding the research. Its Case study 1 (printed pages 62-63) and technical appendix, Auracast testing, describe the March 2026 concept test. Ampetronic's separately archived 30 July 2025 announcement says it commissioned RNID trials at the same station; neither read document explicitly identifies those trials as the March 2026 test.
• The linked Technical Appendix, printed pages 10–11 (https://rnid.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/clear-signals-technical-appendices-final.pdf), gives the ten-person sample and loan equipment: one had Auracast built in, two borrowed an Android phone and dongle receiver, and the remaining seven borrowed neckloop receivers. Each participant received setup support. The main report’s results and recommendations on printed pages 62–63 describe clearer announcements, easier joining, signs, website information and an announcement alert. The main report foreword and acknowledgments credit the Motability Foundation for funding.
• The Technical Appendix, Concept testing / Auracast testing and Summary of participants (printed pp. 10-11), gives the March 2026 date and the ten-person device breakdown. Ampetronic separately describes commissioning RNID trials in its 30 July 2025 installation announcement (https://www.ampetronic.com/ampetronic-completes-installation-of-auri-in-bristol-temple-meads-station/); neither passage establishes that this was the same test.
• The main report, printed pages 12–15, describes difficulty accessing safety and emergency information; its Safety and vulnerability section on printed page 56 says inaccessible announcements leave people unable to distinguish routine changes from serious incidents. The survey methodology on printed pages 10–11 gives 1,762 recent public transport users who are deaf or have hearing loss, including 283 BSL users. These survey findings are separate from the ten-person Auracast concept test.
• Case study 1 on printed pages 62–63 and the Technical Appendix on printed page 10 describe a task simulating catching a specified train, followed by discussion. They report no evacuation exercise, emergency-priority test or power-failure test; the clearer-announcement result is participant feedback rather than a measured intelligibility score.

Limits

The Auracast part is a qualitative concept test with ten supported participants, with no coverage, signal or latency measurements, and the report does not name the transmitter system. Ampetronic said in a July 2025 press release that it installed the station's transmitters and commissioned RNID user trials there; the report credits its own funding to the Motability Foundation. The July 2025 statement does not identify the March 2026 concept test and does not establish its commissioning or funding.

Read the original

rnid.org.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-influencing/clear-signals-improving-transport-accessibility

Link checked 13 October 2026. We link to the original and do not host copies.

Cited in

• Which hearing devices can receive which systems?Open
• Auracast, hearing loop, infrared, RF or Wi-Fi: which suits which room?Disputed
• How many receivers and neckloops does each code require, and how should a loan pool be run?Partly answered
• What commissioning tests and pass limits will the standards require?Open
• How do listeners find and join the right broadcast?Open
• How many listeners carry a telecoil, an Auracast-capable device or a smartphone?Disputed
• What do listeners prefer, and how often do they use venue systems?Partly answered
• Are telecoils switched on and set up well enough for loops to work?Not reliable yet
• Should a venue keep its hearing loop when it adds Auracast, and can one system serve both?Partly answered
• How do listeners learn that a venue has assistive listening, and which signs and symbols do the rules ask for?Partly answered
• What works for announcements and ticket counters on buses, trains, stations and airports?Partly answered
• What reaches a cochlear implant user in a venue, and how well?Partly answered
• Do neckloops give telecoil users good sound from FM, infrared, Wi-Fi and Auracast receivers?Not reliable yet
• What does a listener have to do to use each system, and where do people get stuck?Partly answered
• Can assistive listening carry emergency and evacuation announcements?Partly answered

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