How do listeners learn that a venue has assistive listening, and which signs and symbols do the rules ask for?

Why it matters

A loop distributor notes that a hearing loop which stops working often goes unnoticed, because only hearing aid users listen to it¹. In a survey by the Committee for Communication Access in America (CCAA), a group of hearing-loss advocates whose report does not state funding, 62% of 1,519 people with hearing loss or related conditions recruited through hearing-loss networks said they seldom or never find hearing accommodations in public venues, and 47% avoid events they know have none². Listeners learn that a system exists from signs, listings, staff and hearing care professionals; this question covers those routes for every technology. The steps for joining an Auracast stream once a listener knows it is there are in How do listeners find and join the right broadcast?.

What the evidence shows

What the codes ask signs to show

• United States. The 2010 ADA Standards require signs with the International Symbol of Access for Hearing Loss telling patrons that a system is available³. The Access Board's guide explains that the symbol must have a non-glare finish and contrast with its background, that signs may go at each assembly area or at each ticket office or window, and that the wording is not specified, although "it is helpful to indicate where assistive listening devices can be acquired"⁴. The 2024 International Building Code has the same rule and the same ticket-window alternative⁵. When the Department of Justice kept the ticket-window option in 2010, a commenter had pointed out that people who buy tickets online or by mail may never pass the window⁶.
• New York City. A 2017 city law goes further for qualifying city-funded projects: building entrances and check-in desks must show the hearing-loss symbol from ICC A117.1-2009 with a "T" in the lower right corner where a loop is installed, or a symbol for the alternative system⁷.
• Canada. The model code requires signs showing where systems are, with the International Symbol of Access or the hearing-loss symbol and information that makes the type of facility clear⁸.
• England. Approved Document M asks for the standard symbol where an induction loop or infrared system is present and names no symbol for other systems⁹.
• Australia. Inside a room with hearing augmentation, a sign with the international symbol for deafness must state the type of system, the area covered and, for receiver systems, where to get receivers; braille and tactile signs must identify each space that has a system¹⁰. The Australian standard AS 1428.5 has signage clauses for loops, counter systems and radio and infrared receiver systems, and a section of its own on signage; their content is in the paid text¹¹.
• Europe and the loop code of practice. The European Federation of Hard of Hearing People (EFHOH), in its summary of the European built-environment standard EN 17210, stresses signs showing that a system is present, and reports that the standard has an annex on management and maintenance that includes staff training¹². The published contents of the international code of practice for loops list signage, user feedback and staff training under the owner's responsibilities¹³.
• The national codes above do not name Bluetooth or Auracast in their assistive listening rules^3,5,8,9,10.

The symbols and their variants

• One symbol, or one per system. The US rules use one symbol, the International Symbol of Access for Hearing Loss, for every kind of assistive listening system⁴. The European telecommunications standard EN 301 462, from ETSI, defines an ear crossed by a diagonal bar for general facilities for deaf and hard of hearing people, and the same ear with a T for inductive coupling to hearing aids, noting that hearing aids often mark the telecoil setting with a T¹⁴. A UK theatre technicians' guide shows the ear with a T for a loop and an ear with wavy lines for infrared¹⁵.
• The loop symbol in the loop standard. A Finnish government glossary states that the international induction loop symbol is defined in EN 60118-4, the loop performance standard, and that a looped space should also have a coverage map marking on the floor plan where the loop reaches¹⁶. The standard has an annex on the information to give the system's operator and users¹⁷.
• Symbols were often misread in testing. In standards-body research organised by ETSI with a university department, a research institute and hearing-loss associations, candidate symbols were tested with about 216 deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people in four countries. The candidate chosen for inductive coupling was identified correctly 43% of the time, against 55% for the best-scoring alternative (coupling symbols were shown only to the hard of hearing and hearing groups), and the chosen general symbol 38%. In the earlier pilot trial, coupling was the most confusing topic: people who used inductive coupling understood it, while infrared and radio coupling caused difficulties, which the authors put down to lack of experience of those links. The symbols were redrawn before adoption, and the report describes no test of the final versions¹⁸.

Auracast signs, names and codes

• The SIG's graphics come with its trademark licence. Registered locations may display the Auracast location graphic of the Bluetooth SIG, the industry association that owns the Auracast trademark, and an assistive listening graphic that places the Auracast mark below the international symbol for hearing-loss access¹⁹. Using the marks requires a Standard Quality stream and registration with the SIG, and a registered location may be listed in a public database^19,20.
• The SIG's launch checklist. The SIG's venue page, which is marketing material, asks venues to post its location graphics near entrances, counters, walls and seats, register on Google Maps, give staff a short script, and mention Auracast on their website and in event listings; its text does not ask for the broadcast name, a QR code or a Broadcast Code on signs²¹. The SIG's deployment guide for public locations was still announced as forthcoming when read²².
• Names and codes on the sign. The Swiss hearing-loss association Pro Audito says room signs should give the stream name and any PIN²³. The SIG's QR code format carries the broadcast name and any Broadcast Code, but a printed code cannot show whether the transmitter is switched on²⁴, and a SIG marketing paper suggests QR codes on tickets, on screens and at auditorium entrances²⁵. In RNID's March 2026 station trial with ten listeners, participants asked for signage and website information as well as easier joining. The report credits funding to the Motability Foundation. The transmitter maker Ampetronic separately announced commissioned RNID trials there in July 2025; the sources do not establish whether that commission covered the March 2026 test²⁶.

Listings, advertising and notices

• Loops on Google Maps. The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) announced in December 2022 that, at its loop programme's request, Google had added an accessibility attribute for assistive hearing loops to Google Maps; HLAA volunteers help add locations, venues can update their own profiles, and HLAA asks users to post loop reviews with a photo of the loop sign where possible²⁷. The SIG asks Auracast venues to register on Google Maps too, without saying whether Google Maps has an Auracast attribute²¹.
• The SIG's public page is a showcase. The SIG's location profiles page presented 40 case studies, among them churches, theatres and at least eight hearing care businesses, as "just some" of the venues using Auracast, with no map or search by place²⁸.
• Lists required by law. New York City must post, and update yearly, a list of city facilities with assistive listening and the type of each system⁷.
• Advertising and outage notices. A 1999 Department of Justice settlement required a cinema chain to add signs where theatres had none, mention its systems in recorded telephone announcements, and say on its telephone message when a system was out of service for more than 48 hours²⁹. A UK theatre guide asks for the system and its type in all advertising, and for prominent notices when it is not working¹⁵. A 1999 report to the Access Board recommended signs saying exactly where to get receivers, and posting FM frequencies and infrared subcarriers for people who bring their own receivers³⁰.
• Staff. The SIG asks Auracast venues to have staff try the receivers so that they can help visitors²¹. A loop distributor lists what customer-facing staff should know: what a loop is, which areas it covers, how to switch it on and check it, and what to do if it fails¹. HLAA asks venues to require signage and staff training from the loop installer³¹. For audio over Wi-Fi, a UK charity says clear signs and helpful staff should be on hand to explain how to connect³².

What surveys and field checks found

• Signs and trained staff were often missing. In a 2005 Gallaudet University online survey of 423 hearing aid and implant users, funded by a US Department of Education grant and recruited mainly through HLAA, 65% of the 276 who had borrowed a receiver at a venue often or very often found no signs showing where to get one, and 67% often or very often met staff not trained to run the equipment³³. Missing signage and untrained staff were among the common complaints in the CCAA survey², and in 2006 a US federal advisory committee named missing signs among common errors in courthouses³⁴.
• Venues did not publicise or know their systems. RNID's mystery shoppers in 2004 found loops in 39% of 75 UK arts venues, and "many failed to publicise it"; 65% lacked published access information³⁵. RNID volunteers in 2009 gathered about 500 reports on 210 businesses, including complaints of untrained staff and loops left switched off³⁶. In a 2017 check of about seven listed loops by two Healthwatch Southampton members with hearing loss, staff at one reception believed a loop was present but none could be found, and the checkers found little understanding of loops across the trust; the report gives no separate audit funding³⁷. A loop advocate lists staff unaware that neckloops exist among users' complaints³⁸.
• Awareness in the wider population. In a 2026 online survey commissioned by HearingLife, a hearing care company in the Demant Group, with a national sample of 750 US adults aged 60 and over and 1,950 participants including state oversamples, 23% knew that some public venues offer technology to improve hearing, and 84% had never used such technology or an accommodation in public places; the release gives no question wording³⁹. RNID notes that announcements sent directly to hearing devices are unfamiliar to most people, so demand for them is likely under-reported²⁶.
• Many listeners do not know what their own devices can do. Of CCAA respondents, 17% knew nothing about telecoils before the survey², and in the Hearing Industries Association's 2018 MarkeTrak survey 26% of the 702 owners who had got hearing aids in the previous five years were not sure whether their aids had a telecoil⁴⁰.
• Where people know, many use it, and some venues are well prepared. In the CCAA survey, about seven in ten respondents with telecoils always or usually use the loop in a looped venue². In a study published in 2014 and paid for by loop, assistive listening and hearing-device technology makers, 82% of the second survey's 243 respondents said they were very or extremely likely to seek out ticketed venues with a loop. All had used a loop, and recruitment was mainly through HLAA and loop advocacy channels⁴¹. RNID's 2004 shoppers singled out three London venues for excellence, all with deaf-aware staff³⁵, and the Southampton hospital's main reception loop worked and its staff knew it³⁷.

What hearing care professionals tell clients

• A main source, with telecoils covered less than Bluetooth. Audiologists were the most cited professional source of information in the 2005 survey (59%), behind consumer organisations, meetings and word of mouth, and the authors note other surveys finding a gap between audiologists' claims to have told clients about assistive listening devices and clients' belief that they were told³³. Only 35% of the 243 loop users in the 2014 study's second survey said their hearing care professional had demonstrated the telecoil⁴¹. In a self-selected Purdue University survey presented as a poster in 2025, supported by a graduate assistantship with tuition remission, the poster counted 255 entries when people followed the survey link, at most 184 completed responses, and 128 to 184 answers per question; 33.9% said they counsel on assistive listening systems, including telecoils, at the first consultation, against 91.3% who discuss Bluetooth streaming, and 30.2% named the lack of a loop in the office to demonstrate with as a barrier⁴².
• Rules and positions. A 2016 Delaware law has its licensing board require dispensers and audiologists to explain telecoils and their use with hearing loops at the first fitting examination and to give written information⁴³, and a loop advocate wrote in 2020 that nine US states required clients to be told about telecoils before a fitting⁴⁴. EFHOH asks audiologists to tell clients about both telecoil and Bluetooth features and to demonstrate both⁴⁵, and HLAA advises listeners to ask an audiologist or hearing instrument specialist how to use the telecoil²⁷.
• Being told did not mean using. In a small study by the hearing aid maker Starkey of its own aids, all seven users shown the telecoil at the fitting remembered its purpose a month later, against two of the seven only told about it, but at a simulated looped cinema after two months, only two of the seven shown the telecoil and one of the seven only told about it switched to the loop programme on their own⁴⁶. The question Are telecoils switched on and set up well enough for loops to work? covers fitting and counselling in detail.

Where sources disagree

The rules and guides differ on what a sign should say. The US federal rules use one hearing-loss symbol for every system⁴; ETSI, a UK theatre guide and New York City add a T for telecoil or loop facilities^14,15,7; England asks for a symbol only where a loop or infrared system is present⁹; Australia asks for the system type, while Canada asks for information identifying the type of facility available^10,8. The SIG's assistive listening graphic combines the hearing-loss symbol with the Auracast mark¹⁹.

For Auracast, the SIG's checklist centres on its trademark graphics and on registration^21,19, while Pro Audito asks for the stream name and any PIN on room signs²³. On placement, the US Department of Justice kept signs at ticket windows as an alternative to signs at each assembly area, over a comment that online buyers may never pass the window⁶.

The awareness findings come from different groups. Surveys of experienced users recruited through hearing-loss networks report problems with signs and staff^33,2, the figure for US adults aged 60 and over comes from a hearing care company that does not publish its question³⁹, and the field checks are volunteer or mystery-shopper reports^35,36,37.

What would settle it

Tests at real venues of whether listeners notice and act on different signs (the plain symbol, the symbol with a T, text naming the system, a broadcast name or a QR code): the only symbol test found used paper questionnaires about telephone facilities in the late 1990s and did not test the final symbols¹⁸. Counts, on a stated protocol, of how many venues with a system sign it, list it online and train their staff: the field checks found are campaign or volunteer reports without published protocols^35,36,37.

Checks of how complete and accurate online listings are against the systems venues actually have, since the listings found are added by volunteers and venues, self-reported by agencies or chosen by their publisher^27,28,7. A representative survey of awareness with published questions, and studies matching what hearing care professionals say they tell clients with what clients remember^39,33,42. Guidance in codes or standards on signing Auracast systems, which none of the codes found provides^10,3,22.

Planning while it is open

• Post the symbol the local code names, with what that code asks the sign to say: in Australia the type of system, the area covered and, for receiver systems, where to get receivers; in Canada information that makes the type of facility clear; in New York City projects a T for a loop^3,10,8,7.
• Say on signs exactly where receivers can be obtained^4,30.
• For Auracast, put the stream name and any PIN on room signs, and if printing QR codes use the standard format with values that do not change and check that the broadcast is on^23,24.
• Name the system and its type in advertising, on the website and in event listings, and post a notice when a system is out of order^15,21,29,26.
• Add a loop to the venue's Google Maps listing, and register an Auracast venue on Google Maps^27,21.
• Where a loop is installed, show its coverage on a floor-plan map, as the Finnish glossary describes¹⁶.
• Train box office, front-of-house and counter staff to know that the system exists, which type it is, which seats it covers, how to check it and what to do if it fails^15,1,37,21.
• When commissioning a loop, require signage and staff training from the installer³¹.
• Hearing professionals: tell clients about telecoils and their use with loops at the first fitting, give written information, and demonstrate both telecoil and Bluetooth features^43,45,46.

Sources

1. Loop Performance Standard IEC 60118-4:2006. UnivoxAudio Ltd. UnivoxAudio (knowledge centre wiki), undated (read 13 October 2026). Manufacturer (UnivoxAudio Ltd, the UK and Ireland distributor of the Swedish loop maker Bo Edin's Univox loop amplifiers) ↩︎ https://www.univoxaudio.co.uk/knowledge-centre-wiki/standards-legislation-and-best-practice/standard-iec-60118-4-2006
2. Consumer use of and preferences for assistive communication technology in public places. Committee for Communication Access in America (Frazier SO, Bailey A, Cadwell B, Clifford C, Liebe K, Myers D, Sterkens J). Committee for Communication Access in America, 8 January 2024. Nonprofit advocacy (an ad hoc committee of hearing-loss advocates, chaired by Stephen O. Frazier (Loop New Mexico; a founding member of HLAA's Get in the Hearing Loop initiative), the report's correspondence author; funding not stated; data collected and analysed by the Frost Center for Data and Social Research at Hope College. The committee's site lists David Myers (founder of hearingloop.org) and Juliette Sterkens (HLAA hearing loop advocate) among its members, with Abram Bailey (founder of HearingTracker), Blake Cadwell (founder and CEO of Soundly), Kevin Liebe (hearinghealthmatters.org) and Carol Clifford (audiologist, former ReSound training director)) ↩︎ https://www.ccaa.name/Report_Final_1-12-24.pdf
3. 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design. US Department of Justice. US Department of Justice (ada.gov), 15 September 2010. Government (US Department of Justice) ↩︎ https://www.ada.gov/law-and-regs/design-standards/2010-stds/
4. Guide to the ADA Accessibility Standards, Chapter 7: Signs. US Access Board. US Access Board (access-board.gov), August 2022. Government (US Access Board, a federal agency) ↩︎ https://www.access-board.gov/ada/guides/chapter-7-signs/
5. 2024 International Building Code, Chapter 11 Accessibility: 1109.2.7 Assistive listening systems and 1112.4 Other signs. International Code Council. International Code Council (ICC Digital Codes), August 2023. Standards body (International Code Council) ↩︎ https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IBC2024P1/chapter-11-accessibility
6. Guidance on the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (section "219 and 706 Assistive Listening Systems"). US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. ada.gov, 15 September 2010. Government (US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division) ↩︎ https://www.ada.gov/law-and-regs/design-standards/standards-guidance/
7. Local Law No. 51 of 2017: induction loop systems in city capital projects (New York City Charter section 224.3). New York City Council. City of New York (Department of Buildings, local laws), 21 March 2017. Government (City of New York) ↩︎ https://www.nyc.gov/assets/buildings/local_laws/ll51of2017.pdf
8. National Building Code of Canada 2025: assistive listening systems (Articles 3.8.2.9 and 3.8.3.19, Note A-3.8.3.19). Canadian Board for Harmonized Construction Codes. National Research Council Canada, 22 December 2025. Government (National Research Council Canada) ↩︎ https://doi.org/10.4224/26fz-gg26
9. Approved Document M, Volume 2: buildings other than dwellings (2015 edition incorporating 2020 and 2024 amendments). UK Government. Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (GOV.UK), 30 September 2024. Government (UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) ↩︎ https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66f6c5eec71e42688b65ee11/ADM__V2_with_2024_amendments.pdf
10. National Construction Code 2025, Volume One, Part D4: D4D7 Signage and D4D8 Hearing augmentation. Australian Building Codes Board. Australian Building Codes Board (NCC online), 1 May 2026. Government (Australian Building Codes Board) ↩︎ https://ncc.abcb.gov.au/editions/ncc-2025/adopted/volume-one/d-access-and-egress/part-d4-access-people-disability
11. AS 1428.5:2021 Design for access and mobility, Part 5: Communication for people who are deaf or hearing impaired. Standards Australia. Standards Australia (Standards Store), 3 September 2021. Standards body (Standards Australia) ↩︎ https://store.standards.org.au/product/as-1428-5-2021
12. EU standard for hearing access in the built environment. European Federation of Hard of Hearing People (EFHOH). EFHOH, 14 March 2024. Nonprofit advocacy (European federation of hard of hearing people's organisations; its site states that its 2024-2026 publications are co-funded by the EU CERV programme) ↩︎ https://efhoh.org/2024/03/eu-standard-for-hearing-access-in-the-built-environment/
13. IEC TR 63079:2017 Code of practice for hearing-loop systems (HLS). IEC TC 29 (Electroacoustics). International Electrotechnical Commission, 10 April 2017. Standards body (International Electrotechnical Commission; the full text is sold, and only the abstract and a preview of the opening pages are public) ↩︎ https://webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/32554
14. ETSI EN 301 462 V1.1.1: Human Factors (HF); Symbols to identify telecommunications facilities for deaf and hard of hearing people. ETSI Technical Committee Human Factors (HF). European Telecommunications Standards Institute, March 2000. Standards body (ETSI, the European telecommunications standards organisation, whose members include manufacturers) ↩︎ https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_en/301400_301499/301462/01.01.01_60/en_301462v010101p.pdf
15. Management of Hearing Assistance Systems in Auditoria. Association of British Theatre Technicians. Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT), 2013. Trade body (Association of British Theatre Technicians, a UK membership association for the theatre technical industry; no author or funder is named) ↩︎ https://www.abtt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Management-of-Hearing-Assistance-Systems-in-Auditoria2013.pdf
16. International induction loop symbol (Accessibility Glossary, concept c27). Ministry of the Environment (Finland), with Sanastokeskus (the Finnish Terminology Centre). Suomi.fi Interoperability Platform (Digital and Population Data Services Agency, Finland), undated (read 9 October 2026). Government (Finnish Ministry of the Environment, as part of its built-environment vocabulary projects) ↩︎ https://sanastot.suomi.fi/en/terminology/esteettomyys/concept/c27
17. IEC 60118-4:2014 Electroacoustics - Hearing aids - Part 4: Induction-loop systems for hearing aid purposes - System performance requirements. IEC TC 29 (Electroacoustics). International Electrotechnical Commission, 11 December 2014. Standards body (International Electrotechnical Commission; the full text is sold, and only the abstract is public) ↩︎ https://webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/798
18. ETSI TR 101 767 V1.1.1: Human Factors (HF); Symbols to identify telecommunications facilities for deaf and hard of hearing people; Development and evaluation. ETSI Technical Committee Human Factors (HF). European Telecommunications Standards Institute, January 2000. Standards body (ETSI; the trials in Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium and Finland were organised with a university department, a research institute and associations of deaf and hard of hearing people in each country) ↩︎ https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_tr/101700_101799/101767/01.01.01_60/tr_101767v010101p.pdf
19. Public Location Brand Guide for Auracast Trademarks. Bluetooth SIG, 15 September 2026. Trade body (Bluetooth SIG, an industry association funded by its member companies, which owns the Auracast trademark; location trademark programme terms) ↩︎ https://www.bluetooth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/2025_Public-Location-Brand-Guide-for-Auracast-Trademarks.zip
20. Auracast location registration. Bluetooth SIG, undated (read 13 October 2026). Trade body (Bluetooth SIG programme terms; the SIG is an industry association funded by its member companies, which owns the Auracast trademark) ↩︎ https://www.bluetooth.com/auracast/location-registration/
21. Auracast venue success: 5 steps to a successful launch of Auracast at your location. Bluetooth SIG, undated (read 9 October 2026). Trade body (Bluetooth SIG marketing material; the SIG is an industry association funded by its member companies and owns the Auracast trademark) ↩︎ https://www.bluetooth.com/auracast/venue-success/
22. Auracast for public locations. Bluetooth SIG, undated (read 13 October 2026). Trade body (Bluetooth SIG marketing material; the SIG is an industry association funded by its member companies and owns the Auracast trademark) ↩︎ https://www.bluetooth.com/auracast/public-locations/
23. Can Bluetooth Auracast be used as an assistive listening system?. Pro Audito Schweiz. Pro Audito Schweiz (in German), 17 February 2025. Nonprofit advocacy (Pro Audito Schweiz, Swiss hearing-loss association) ↩︎ https://pro-audito.ch/news/kann-bluetooth-auracast-als-hoeranlage-eingesetzt-werden/
24. Broadcast Audio URI, version 1.0. Bluetooth SIG Hearing Aid Working Group. Bluetooth SIG, 10 September 2024. Standards body (Bluetooth SIG, an industry association funded by its member companies, which owns the Auracast trademark) ↩︎ https://www.bluetooth.com/wp-content/uploads/Files/Specification/HTML/BAU_v1.0/out/en/index-en.html
25. A new Bluetooth audio scan-to-listen experience. Bluetooth SIG Market Development. Bluetooth SIG, 17 February 2025. Trade body (Bluetooth SIG marketing material; the SIG is an industry association funded by its member companies and owns the Auracast trademark) ↩︎ https://www.bluetooth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/02.20.25_Auracast_QR_Paper_FINAL.pdf
26. Clear Signals: improving transport accessibility for deaf people and people with hearing loss. RNID. RNID (Royal National Institute for Deaf People), 22 September 2026. Independent (RNID survey and concept test; report funded by the Motability Foundation; Ampetronic, which installed the station's transmitters, announced in July 2025 that it commissioned RNID trials there, but the read sources do not establish whether those are the March 2026 concept test) ↩︎ https://rnid.org.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-influencing/clear-signals-improving-transport-accessibility/
27. Google Maps Now Includes Hearing Loops. Perazzoli C (volunteer chair, Get in the Hearing Loop programme). Hearing Loss Association of America, 14 December 2022. Nonprofit advocacy (Hearing Loss Association of America, a US consumer organisation for people with hearing loss; written by the volunteer chair of its Get in the Hearing Loop programme) ↩︎ https://www.hearingloss.org/google-maps-now-includes-hearing-loops/
28. Auracast location profiles. Bluetooth SIG, undated (read 9 October 2026). Trade body (Bluetooth SIG marketing material; the SIG is an industry association funded by its member companies and owns the Auracast trademark) ↩︎ https://www.bluetooth.com/auracast/auracast-location-profiles/
29. Settlement Agreement between the United States of America and Crown Theaters re: assistive listening systems in theaters (DOJ complaint number 202-14-34). US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section; Crown Theaters. US Department of Justice (ADA archive), 8 March 1999. Government (US Department of Justice, which enforces Title III of the ADA; the other party is the cinema chain that settled) ↩︎ https://archive.ada.gov/crownth.htm
30. Large area assistive listening systems (ALS): review and recommendations. Bakke MH, Levitt H, Ross M, Erickson F. Final report to the U.S. Access Board; Lexington School for the Deaf, Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Hearing Enhancement, December 1999. Government (U.S. Department of Education, NIDRR grant H133E30015; final report to the U.S. Access Board) ↩︎ https://www.access-board.gov/files/research/assistive-listening-systems.pdf
31. Best Practices for Hearing Loop Installation. Hearing Loss Association of America (contact: Juliëtte Sterkens, HLAA hearing loop advocate). Hearing Loss Association of America (Get in the Hearing Loop), 28 October 2021. Nonprofit advocacy (Hearing Loss Association of America, a US consumer organisation; guidance from its hearing loop programme) ↩︎ https://www.hearingloss.org/wp-content/uploads/best-practices-for-hearing-loop-installation.pdf
32. Other assistive listening systems. Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, undated (read 9 October 2026). Nonprofit advocacy (Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, a UK charity whose support pages include Hearing Link Services; the page thanks the loop and Auracast maker Ampetronic for help creating it, and Ampetronic's owner, Allvida, also owns the Wi-Fi system maker Listen Technologies) ↩︎ https://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/support/living/assistive-technology/systems
33. An Internet Survey of Individuals With Hearing Loss Regarding Assistive Listening Devices. Harkins J, Tucker P. Trends in Amplification 11(2):91-100 (SAGE), June 2007. Independent (Technology Access Program, Gallaudet University, for the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Hearing Enhancement; developed under grant H133E-03006-06 from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, US Department of Education) ↩︎ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4111414/
34. Justice for All: Designing Accessible Courthouses (recommendations from the Courthouse Access Advisory Committee). Courthouse Access Advisory Committee. US Access Board, 15 November 2006. Government (US Access Board federal advisory committee of 35 members, among them the Hearing Loss Association of America, courts, architects, code bodies and disability groups) ↩︎ https://www.access-board.gov/ada/additional-resources/designing-accessible-courthouses.html
35. Deaf people failed by UK arts attractions. Health Club Management (reporting an RNID survey). Health Club Management (Leisure Media), 30 November 2004. Nonprofit advocacy (survey by profoundly deaf mystery shoppers on behalf of the UK charity RNID, then the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, for its Access to Arts campaign; reported by a leisure trade magazine) ↩︎ https://www.healthclubmanagement.co.uk/health-club-management-news/Deaf-people-failed-by-UK-arts-attractions/9767
36. RNID calls for businesses to do better on induction loops. Disability News Service, 23 May 2009. Nonprofit advocacy (reports gathered by campaign volunteers of the UK charity RNID and released for its Deaf Awareness Week campaign; reported by Disability News Service; labelled advocacy rather than an independent test because the reports were gathered for a campaign, with no test protocol described in the news report) ↩︎ https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/rnid-calls-for-businesses-to-do-better-on-induction-loops/
37. Hearing Loops at UHS FT: Audit of Hearing Loops. Dymond HF, for the sensory loss group and Healthwatch Southampton. Healthwatch Southampton (reports library of Healthwatch England), May 2017. Government (Healthwatch Southampton, the city's statutory health and social care watchdog, funded through the local authority; the audit was done by two of its volunteers with hearing loss, as members of University Hospital Southampton's sensory loss group) ↩︎ https://nds.healthwatch.co.uk/sites/default/files/reports_library/20170502_Southampton__Hearing-Loops-at-UHS-FT-Report.pdf
38. Hearing Loop – the Preferred Large Area Assistive Listening System: Here's Why. Sterkens J. Canadian Audiologist 6(1), 21 January 2019. Nonprofit advocacy (written by Juliëtte Sterkens, AuD, who according to the author note has worked since 2012 as an advocate for hearing loops and other assistive technology with the Hearing Loss Association of America, with grant funding from the David and Carol Myers Foundation; published in the Canadian Academy of Audiology's magazine) ↩︎ https://canadianaudiologist.ca/hearing-loop-large-area-system-feature/
39. New HearingLife Survey Finds Hearing Challenges Can Mean Missing the Moments That Matter Most (Hearing Experience Index). HearingLife. HearingLife (press release distributed by PR Newswire), 5 October 2026. Manufacturer (HearingLife, a US hearing care company with more than 600 centres and part of the Demant Group, which it calls a global leader in hearing healthcare; HearingLife commissioned the survey and does not name the polling firm) ↩︎ https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-hearinglife-survey-finds-hearing-challenges-can-mean-missing-the-moments-that-matter-most-302897822.html
40. MarkeTrak 10 (MT10) Survey Results Demonstrate High Satisfaction with and Benefits from Hearing Aids. Picou EM. Seminars in Hearing 41(1):21-36 (Thieme), 10 February 2020. Trade body (MarkeTrak is commissioned by the Hearing Industries Association, the US hearing aid industry's association; the author, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, declares research funding from Sonova, GN ReSound and Signia as well as the National Institutes of Health) ↩︎ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7010487/
41. Consumer Perceptions of the Impact of Inductively Looped Venues on the Utility of Their Hearing Devices. Kochkin S, Sterkens J, Compton-Conley C, Beck DL, Taylor B, Kricos P, Caccavo M, Holmes A, Powers TA. Hearing Review (October 2014 issue), 24 September 2014. Manufacturer (paid for by grants from Etymotic Research, Contacta, Listen Technologies, IntriCon and Univox by Edin, which the acknowledgments describe as including two hearing loop makers, an assistive listening company and two hearing-device technology makers; co-author Juliëtte Sterkens runs the Loop Wisconsin advocacy blog, one of the recruitment channels. The article prints no affiliations; from other sources, co-author Douglas L. Beck worked for the hearing-aid maker Oticon, joining as director of professional relations in 2005 (AudiologyOnline, 20 August 2005) and named director of academic sciences in 2016 (Hearing Review, 6 April 2016), and co-author Thomas A. Powers was vice-president of audiology at the hearing-aid maker Siemens Hearing Instruments (Hearing Review, 19 September 2013) and later a vice-president of its successor, Sivantos (Better Hearing Institute biography)) ↩︎ https://hearingreview.com/hearing-products/implants-bone-conduction/cochlear-implants/consumer-perceptions-impact-inductively-looped-venues-utility-hearing-devices
42. Clinician Perspectives on Training and Implementation of Telecoils in Hearing Aids. Alles M, La Fratta Z, Strickland E. Purdue University, Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences (poster presented at the ISHA Convention), March 2025. Independent (Purdue University, Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences; the poster names a graduate assistantship with tuition remission and states no other relevant financial interests; the copy read is hosted by the Center for Hearing Access, a nonprofit advocacy group) ↩︎ https://centerforhearingaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/Alles-EBP-Poster.pdf
43. An Act to Amend Title 24 of the Delaware Code Relating to Hearing Aids (Chapter 315, formerly House Bill No. 402). Delaware General Assembly (148th General Assembly). Delaware General Assembly, Session Laws, 19 July 2016. Government (State of Delaware) ↩︎ https://legis.delaware.gov/SessionLaws/Chapter?id=15873
44. What's Going On? More Loops and Fewer Telecoils. Frazier SO. Hearing Review, 28 September 2020. Nonprofit advocacy (written by Stephen O. Frazier, a freelance writer who heads the Loop New Mexico campaign and was a founding member of HLAA's Get in the Hearing Loop initiative; published in the trade magazine Hearing Review) ↩︎ https://hearingreview.com/hearing-products/accessories/assistive-technologies/whats-going-on-more-loops-and-fewer-telecoils
45. Position statement on Auracast and telecoils. European Federation of Hard of Hearing People (EFHOH). EFHOH, 18 October 2024. Nonprofit advocacy (European federation; EFHOH states that its 2024-2026 publications are co-funded by the EU CERV programme) ↩︎ https://efhoh.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/EFHOH-position-statement-on-concerns-about-withdrawal-from-telecoils-FINAL97.pdf
46. Benefits of Telecoil: Staying in the loop. Starkey Laboratories (no individual authors named). Starkey Laboratories (feature summary flyer FLYR3982-00-EE-ST), June 2022. Manufacturer (Starkey Laboratories, a hearing aid maker, testing its own Evolv AI hearing aids; the same summary was also issued under its Audibel brand) ↩︎ https://cdn.mediavalet.com/usil/starkeyhearingtech/9XWBLQtc6E-UaYLkXHuSrg/xzi1xwCmpkef7cSGZmwjfQ/Original/Telecoil%20Feature%20Summary%20APR22_F.pdf

Change log

• 10 October 2026Published with 46 sources.
• 13 October 2026Narrowed the Canadian signage summary and clarified survey funding and samples.
• 13 October 2026Independent audit corrected survey participation wording, trial attribution and hospital audit funding.

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