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Shops, banks and other businesses are breaking the law in failing to provide simple hearing aid systems
Shops and other everyday services must make "reasonable adjustments" to accommodate disabled customers. So says the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), but for the UK's 2 million users of hearing aids, provision often falls short. Induction loops – which work like a short-range radio system between speaker and hearing aid – make hearing easier while eliminating background noise. When they work, that is.
But often staff don't know what a loop is, let alone whether it's fully functional. When the Royal National Institute for Deaf people worked with one major transport provider to evaluate its provision, only 3% of loops at ticket purchase and assistance windows gave an acceptable experience, and 20% did not work.
Abrupt induction
When the Guardian called a selection of shops, cinemas, a bank and a hospital to ask if they had induction loops, only one person could help. We were asked what a loop was, told to ring automated booking lines instead, asked to call back later, told no loops were present in shops that had them, and screamed at by one receptionist who said it was "not her job to know".
Induction loops are particularly useful if there's a physical barrier such as a solid glass screen in banks, stations and post offices. But in another RNID study, in which 500 hearing aid users reported over two years on loop provision in high-street chains, post offices attracted the highest number of complaints: loops were switched off in 18 branches, did not work in a further 21 and eight did not have them.
Some companies have fulfilled their requirements under the law. Lloyds TSB holds the RNID's Louder Than Words charter mark, and Tesco has successfully trialled new loops in some stores.
But it's no wonder that those who rely on these systems are frustrated, not least because shops and banks often expect advance notice when use of a loop system is required. "I struggle to use the phone, so how am I supposed to contact them?" asks Jonny Cotsen, a multimedia developer from Cardiff. He relies heavily on lip-reading, "but with lots of sound interference, it becomes more difficult".
The loop is simply a wire that goes around a room or listening area. The theory is simple, says Guido Gybels, technology director at RNID. Sound is fed in from a microphone, TV or other audio source into the loop. "You put a current through the system, which creates a magnetic field." That induces a current in a tiny coil inside the listening device (a hearing aid or cochlear implant); the current can be transformed back into audio, just like a loudspeaker, and fed through to the user.
Loop systems can be fixed or portable. "They work with hearing aids that have a telecoil facility," explains Andrew Thomas of the induction loop specialists Contacta. "Most NHS aids have a telecoil, as do around half from private dispensers, and some cochlear implants."
In response to the RNID's study, a Post Office Ltd spokesman said: "Post Office Ltd is committed to providing and maintaining induction loops over our entire network of 11,500 post office branches. We are currently auditing these facilities and will replace or repair any that are not working over the next few months."
However, simply installing a loop does not constitute compliance with the DDA. "The induction loop has to be present, it has to be operational and it has to be accessible," says Oliver Fry of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission.
David Banes, development director of computing and disability charity *AbilityNet, adds: "Reasonable means an adjustment that's available to the user. If nobody has training and no one knows of the solution, that's not reasonable."
Installation problems
John Popplestone, director of Connevans, which supplies products for deaf and hard of hearing people, says faults may be introduced during installation. "A lot of people who install loops aren't experienced. I've seen loops installed on counters where there isn't enough room, so the contractor has squashed what should be an oblong shape. This won't work, as the top and bottom components cancel each other out. If a counter is made of stainless steel, you can't put a loop pad behind it because it absorbs the signal."
Popplestone says a loop system can run for at least five years without problems, "unless somebody breaks the cable. Some systems use copper tape underneath carpet – if you replace the carpet and damage the copper foil, or somebody drives a nail through it, the loop won't work."
Portable loops must be charged regularly to prevent batteries from dying, and staff should know where to find them. Poor or non-existent signage is also a major problem, says Thomas. "You need signs so people know where to stand to access the loop, or you may as well not put a system in."
When problems do occur, users must complain directly to service providers as councils don't deal with this issue. "People get fobbed off with a standard letter," says RNID campaigner Jay Francis. "Members write to us and say they don't go shopping any more because there won't be any working induction loops." That's a lot of money potentially lost for a failure of a comparatively simple technology.
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