19 May Deaf Awareness Week amplifies the momentum for real hearing accessibility: a Coronavirus case study

Deaf Awareness Week takes place annually on the first full week in May to highlight the urgent plight of the 1 in 6 people globally with hearing difficulties.

While the theme changes every year to emphasise a pressing concern for the community, one of the most impactful in recent years was undoubtably 2021’s theme of ‘Coming Through it Together’; a clear reference to the COVID-19 pandemic and the very real challenges it presented to people with hearing loss. 

The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented new challenges for people with hearing loss, which has made 2021’s Deaf Awareness Week especially important. Communication is a basic need, one that the need for has dramatically grown in visibility now that we are aware of the impediments posed by face masks muffling speech and blocking lip reading. Add to this visors and screens limiting our ability to hear clearly, and it culminated to create an insurmountable barrier for many people with hearing loss globally.

Reflecting this need, the pandemic certainly saw a sustained surge in demand for our window intercom systems, with many businesses installing screens to limit the spread of infection, while also recognising the need to transfer speech clearly from one side to another. Our systems come with hearing loops installed, so if provided signage is displayed on or near the screen, hearing aid users can benefit easily and with minimal fuss.

Unfortunately, the provision of assistive technology beyond the screens isn’t yet as ubiquitous.

Awareness is only the start: Action is what changes lives

The estimated spending power of people with disabilities is £249 billion a year. 

As the most common disability in the UK, people with hearing loss represent a significant proportion of that. Guildford Hard of Hearing Support Group member, Ted Pottage, says that hearing loop provision and the attitude of staff certainly has a great deal of impact on if and where he shops. In particular, he highlights his struggle to communicate with staff at his local polling station during the 2021 election – which so happened to coincide with Deaf Awareness Week.

Happily, there were some positives to be drawn from this global cessation of normality. Successive lockdowns were an opportunity for many public-facing organisations to install assistive listening technology while their premises were closed. Together with our global installation partners, we have been working in schools and universities, village halls and hospitals, as well as making maintenance visits to supermarkets and high street banks.

But as Ted’s experience shows, Deaf Awareness Week is just one tiny part in making the needs of people with hearing loss better understood. Then comes the next step of encouraging action to ensure venues provide them with clear communication.

Contacta products at ground-breaking Greek accessibility event

Let’s look now at a particularly powerful example of awareness leading to practical change. After years of campaigning to improve access for people with hearing loss, Contacta’s products were introduced into Greece for the first time in 2020.

Our partners, Earcare, proudly unveiled our hearing loop systems on the customer service desk of the city hall in Athens.

The ceremony was hosted by the mayor of the Greek capital, Kostas Bakoyannis. Mr Bakoyannis tested our loop system by using a loop listener and was impressed by the sound quality and clarity. His commitment to accessibility for people with hearing loss in Athens included speech-to-text units at the service counters. Because of measures against the spread of coronavirus, staff also wore clear face masks to aid those who lipread or find lip movement useful.

Greek sign language interpreters were on hand to make sure every need was accommodated during the event.

A ground-breaking installation with national impact

The launch was the culmination of two years of hard work by Earcare to raise awareness of hearing loss and the technology that can transform people’s experience. Accessibility for the thousands of people affected in Greece has been slow to develop and this event made national headlines on radio, TV and in print media.

Following the launch, representatives from Earcare met with government ministers to further discuss access to essential services for people with hearing loss.

Head of New Business Development, Ran Meyrav, said: “We are delighted to see our products reaching new territories and making a difference to people who really need them.

“Our partners are doing fantastic work in not only completing high-quality installations but also improving accessibility and raising awareness of the needs of people with hearing loss.

“We are looking forward to seeing them using more of our products to create inclusion for people and changing their lives.”