Templates - Consumer Inquiries about Assistive Listening

Thank you for the updated information.  While it is your understanding that you are fully compliant with the ADA, unfortunately the theater is not.

The ADA  requires that you have receivers for people without hearing aids or hearing aids without telecoils (i.e., headphones, earbuds and or ear hooks) AND neck loops for people who wear hearing aids with telecoils.  Neckloops make the system “hearing aid compatible”.  

The fact that you have ONLY headphones that connect to the receiver is not being fully compliant.  Furthermore, I wear hearing aids and if I need to remove the hearing aids then I will understand even less with headphones because I lose the clarity provided by the customization of my hearing aids.  This is the reason that you are required to allow me to connect my hearing aids directly to your system.  This is the reason for the neckloops.

I will be attending a show at your venue in thirty-three (33) days.  For the theater to become compliant with be ADA is an easy task.  The theater shall purchase neckloops.  To do this, the theater can simply contact the original vendor from whom the theater purchased the assistive listening system. Here is a link of resource vendors. It is important that the neckloops match the receivers (same company). Here’s how many neckloops you will need to purchase:  receiver calculator from the Northwest ADA Center.

I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you for your attention to this matter,

Dear [insert ADA coordinator name]

According to the website, the [city/county] owns & operates [insert name & website]

I am planning a family visit in [month/year], and I am looking forward to attending the [performance or event name] on [date].

I have significant hearing loss and use the telecoil in my hearing aids to access ADA-compliant assistive listening systems wherever I go, whether a hearing loop, FM, or IR system.

The [concert or event venue] website states that

[copy/paste]

Recently, I inquired about the system for the [venue name] and how to access it. I received the following email reply:

[insert response]

The reply I received makes no sense. I am not asking to [insert gloobledgook]. Will there or won’t there be an assistive listening system for the [concert/event]?  If there will be one, a) what type of assistive listening system do you have (hearing loop, FM, or IR system), b) If it’s an FM or IR system, do you have neckloops available? c) where do I pick up equipment to borrow & what are the checkout procedures?

As a suggestion, it would be better if more information was available on the website. I have become aware of a new handout that has a template paragraph you can easily adapt Promoting Your Assistive Listening System, with Checklist (2 pages, pdf)

I need to complete my plans for this trip, so I appreciate your timely response.

[name, state]

 ——– Option #1

The vast majority of people with hearing loss are not fluent in ASL (American Sign Language). I don’t know sign language.

 ——– Option #2

It’s a very common misconception that people with hearing loss know sign language.  So common that a national blogger wrote about it, “Why Do People Assume Everyone With Hearing Loss Can Sign?”

https://livingwithhearingloss.com/2019/10/22/why-do-people-assume-everyone-with-hearing-loss-can-sign

Over 98% of people with hearing loss use spoken language, and want to interact in the hearing world in the same manner in which they are accustomed – not through using ASL.  I don’t know ASL.

Hearing aids and cochlear implants do not restore hearing loss the way eyeglasses correct for loss of vision.  Even with the best hearing aids, hearing and speech understanding difficulties remain and are even worse with reverberation, background sounds, and distance from the presenter.  People with hearing loss need clarity, not volume. That why assistive listening systems, captioning, and other accommodations are required under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Assistive listening systems are required under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) wherever there is a public address system or needed for effective communication.

Podcast host Gray: “I think when someone’s visiting a health care provider, it’s easy for them to think of the provider as someone that’s going to already have an understanding of things like the cognitive load—the energy associated—but maybe not.

In Lyn’s story, Lyn also shared this with me:

She’s talking about speaking with one of the providers there, a doctor. The person she was speaking with wanted her to use cochlear implants to communicate. It’s not what she wanted to do at the time. She says:

PIPER:

And I said to him: “It’s not my job to make your life easier. It’s my job to tell you how you can best learn to communicate so we can both have an easier life.” And that’s what they weren’t doing. They weren’t listening.”

Transcript: Bonus: More Communication Strategies to Improve Health Care Access. ASHA Voices. November 14, 2024

You do understand that you’re breaking the ADA law here? And I don’t think you’d dream of holding a Town Hall where people in wheelchairs couldn’t attend because there were no ramps or an elevator. And yet the population disabled by hearing loss is much larger–yet you are not enabling us to hear your public meeting.

I wanted to give you a personal heads up about an issue that your staff has been alerted to. When Senator _______ held a town hall at the _______ auditorium in the spring, there was no assistive listening system provided. Many people were simply unable to hear anything, so they left.

As I think you know, we [insert local work] have been working hard for the past _______ years to understand why this element of accessibility provided for under the ADA is essentially completely missing in most community situations.

After the Senator spoke, I contacted School District _______ to understand why the Senator didn’t use their auditorium’s assistive listening system. It turned out that the Senator‘s staff brought in their own portable PA equipment and did not use any _______ tech support or equipment. But to our great surprise _______ told me that there is NO assistive listening system there to even plug into! That’s like saying there is no ramp for wheelchair users… and “tough luck”. [I have asked them if the new _______ has a system, since it is not apparent from their website, but have not received an answer.]

It turns out it is a huge national issue when “four wall” facilities, such as conference hotels, rent out their spaces and tell the renter that they are responsible for the required ADA-accessible listening system. This is NOT according to ADA, but it has become the national common practice.

Meanwhile, it means that your office will likely be told in many of the venues where you hold town halls that YOU will be responsible for hiring an outside AV company to bring in a temporary system. 

My heads up to you is that it is likely that a formal DOJ complaint will be filed against _______ School District for being inaccessible after your town hall next week if folks can’t hear.

Please let me know if I can help your staff with this to think through how to deal. The participatory side of democracy is leaving out the 20+% of the community who have hearing loss — they won’t show up because they can’t hear at the event.

Best wishes,