Trains and Transportation, Assistive Listening
Subway information booth. Hear the Difference a Hearing Loop Makes (video, 2 minutes)

New York City Taxi with hearing loop symbol on outside
This presentation shows the need for, types of, and integration of hearing loops solutions for transport both on vehicles and in infrastructure (Ampetronic 11:33)

Denver Amtrak ticket counter with two hearing loop signs. There are hearing loops in 70+ stations and more planned in 2025
Train. Listen to the difference without and with a hearing loop (Video, 1+ minute)

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train car. 755 new BART cars have hearing loops.
Travel is fun! It broadens our world and exposes us to people, cultures, and environments we may not see in our own back yard. For the hard of hearing, though, travel can also be extremely stressful. Background noises, cavernous rooms, and competing announcements makes it difficult to hear clearly. Missing gate announcements, not hearing your desired train stop, misunderstanding the boarding gate number, not being able to hear the tour guide on the bus – all of these things happen routinely when we travel. If you hear well, travelers adapt and cope with unpredictable changes. However, if you don’t hear well, it adds to the inherent stresses of travel and can turn joyful anticipation into frustration and fear. Assistive listening systems work – and can help to take some of the worry and stress out of travel and replacing it with reassurance and comfort.
Possible Assistive Listening System Locations
In such transient settings, as in other transient sites, alternative listening systems are impractical. One just isn’t going to check out a receiver and headphones for short periods of time. But with a hearing loop, all a person needs to do is to click a button on their hearing aid or cochlear implant and instantly be able to hear more clearly!
- Buses and service desks
- Ferries and service desks
- Rail (light rail, subways, trains): platform and ticket counters
- Help points

New York City subway ticket counter with hearing loop

Ferry-Brisbane City Cat (Catamaran)
Transportation Resources
- Transit Universal Design Guidelines: Principles and Best Practices for Implementing Universal Design in Transit. (2020) American Public Transportation Association (pdf)
- Train/rail platform hearing loop diagram (this website)
- Frazier, S. (July 27, 2021) Hearing Loops and The Hard-of-Hearing Traveler. Hearing Review (webpage)
- HLAA comments for ATBC (2020) Comments (pdf)
- Related transportation information: Airline transportation webpage (this website)
Template Resources-Center for Hearing Access
- Paragraph template and checklist. Describe your assistive listening system on your webpage. Promoting Your Assistive Listening System, with Checklist by the Center for Hearing Access (2 pages, pdf)
- Templates for facilities/sites: graphics, audio pre-event, handouts, ideas.
- Lists of hearing loops
- across the United States and Canada.
- National and international airport list Updated by Loop New Mexico (2 pages, pdf)
- Zotero online library (transportation) of 50+ articles, websites, and examples