Guidance on premises
Hearing augmentation
The BCA requires that a hearing augmentation system is to be provided where an inbuilt amplification system (typically a PA system), other than one used only for emergency warning, is installed. The types of retail settings that are required to have hearing augmentation are where a store might have a meeting or conference room, or an area where there is a screen between the customer and the employee such as a ticket office, teller's booth, reception area or similar.
There are broadly two main types of hearing augmentation hearing augmentation: fixed and installed in the building, or portable requiring the use of receivers. Hearing loops are installed in the infrastructure of a building such as under the carpet or in the ceiling and provide discrete and effective hearing, as people can activate the T Switch or telecoil on their hearing aid or cochlear implant to hear what is being said. Other systems (such as an infra-red system or FM system) require the customer to use a receiver which is much more obvious and less dignified. Receivers also need to be regularly maintained and tested. Both sorts are acceptable for minimum compliance, but the Premises Standards and BCA dictate the coverage required by the each type of system.
Design focus
- Hearing augmentation where your premises has a meeting or conference area or a service counter screened from the public.
- Where hearing augmentation is installed, the International Symbol for Deafness needs to be used. It is a stylised picture of an ear with a diagonal slash through it. The reason for using the symbol is that people wearing hearing devices with a T Switch need to switch it on to utilise the hearing augmentation.
- The proportionality of the symbol is defined in AS1428.1 and the colours are white on ultramarine (blue).
Additional considerations for more dignified access
- Interconnecting systems into the buildings emergency communication system, as outlined in AS 1428.5.
- Consider installing hearing augmentation at service desks that are not screened as well, where the environment is slightly noisier and customers with hearing aids would benefit.
- Use hearing loops where possible rather than systems with receivers as this provides more dignified, discrete access and creates less maintenance issues with cleaning and charging of the receivers.
- The size of the symbol is further defined in AS 1428.2 depending on the viewing distance*AS 1428.2 Design for Access and Mobility: Enhanced and additional requirements: Table 1. In most stores viewing distance from the counter is less than seven metres which indicates a minimum symbol size of 60mm x 60mm. For viewing distances between 7m and 18m the required size increases to 118mm x 118mm.
