What Colleges Need to Know About the ADA Requirements for Hearing Impaired Students

In a fact little known, and rarely enforced in school renovation and construction, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 2010 mandates that “each assembly area, where audible communications are integral to the use of the space, an Assistive Listening System shall be provided.” Assistive Listening Systems transmit and amplify sound to help those with hearing loss.

While this may sound like it only applies to larger areas such as school auditoriums, lecture halls, gymnasiums and cafeterias, the most common type of “assembly area” in colleges and universities is the classroom.

IR-based systems transmit signals through direct line-of-sight-only. This means that IR signals in one classroom will not interfere with the signal next door even if they are the same frequency.

According to the Act, which went into full effect March 15, 2012, no fewer than two hearing-aid compatible receivers are required in all newly constructed or altered spaces. The number of devices required increases based on the seating capacity.

Unfortunately, many schools and even the AV contractors that install such systems are not aware of this aspect of the ADA. As a result, these systems are often not specified or installed.

“When we think ADA requirements, we think about is wheelchair access,” says Cory Schaeffer, co-founder of Listen Technologies, a manufacturer of assistive listening products. “However, compared to 1.4 percent of the population in a wheelchair, 17 percent have hearing loss [based on the World Health Organization’s definition].”

According to Schaeffer, one of the reasons that awareness is so low is because many people consider hearing loss an issue that primarily affects older people.

However, an estimated 12.5 percent of adolescents and young adults aged six to19 years (approximately 5.2 million) have suffered permanent damage to their hearing from excessive exposure to noise.

This type of “noise-induced” hearing loss is on the rise in this age group. The increase is often attributed to the constant use of ear buds or noise-canceling headphones used to listen to personal music and digital video players and other Smart Devices.