Everyone deserves equal access to public spaces. By requesting a site assessment from Accessible Hearing Solutions, we can help you make your space more accessible for people who are Hard of Hearing. Previously, our services can improve institutions such as:
BUSINESSES
NON-PROFITS
PUBLIC-SECTOR SERVICES
MUNICIPALITIES
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
BANKS
PHARMACIES
LIBRARIES
AIRPORTS
RECREATION CENTRES
HOSPITALS
NURSING HOMES
HEALTH CARE CLINICS
COMMUNITY GROUPS
UNIVERSITIES
What is a Site Assessment? Site assessments educate organizations about the best ways to improve communication and understanding. We service locations such as counter-service areas, meeting rooms, places of worship, and auditoriums. Our assessments provide a written report detailing communication areas that are causing barriers and the best ways to improve accessibility for your customers, clients, or patients.
Depending on the building design and how the space is used, a site assessment may focus on room acoustics, noise control, visual conditions, alerting systems, augmented telecommunication options, assistive communication options, and overall design elements.
How Do We Approach Your Space? Accessible Hearing Solutions believes the six principles of Universal Design for Hearing (UDH) offer the best approach for enhancing hearing access in public environments.
Optimize the hearing environment for all;
Optimize interactions between persons and objects to promote better hearing in an environment;
Optimize opportunities for people to have multiple choices of interactions with one another;
Optimize opportunities for people to perform different activities in and across environments;
Optimize the opportunity for people to have safe, private, and secure use of the environment while minimizing distraction/interference, or cognitive loading;
Optimize opportunities for people to use the environment without extra steps for hearing access during preparatory, use and/or after use phases. (Cheesman et. al., 2013)
What Will the Redesigned Space Achieve?
Meeting Rick Hansen certification, national building codes, and federal and provincial accessibility laws.
Maximizing the capabilities of a person to hear without or without a hearing device.
Optimizing object-person interactions which might include the reduction unwanted noise (such as fans or HVAC systems) or analysis of distance effects between a person and a desired sound source.
Requiring low cognitive and physical effort (which is especially relevant to an older person with hearing loss).
Allowing for choice of interaction (e.g., one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-one).
Supporting single function or multi-functions to allow for a range of planned or unplanned activities that involve hearing (e.g., a work space where you are talking on the phone, communicating face to face with a customer, and where you conduct meetings) (Jennings, 2010)
Academic References Cheesman, M. F., Jennings, M. B., & Klinger, L. (2013). Assessing communication accessibility in the university classroom: towards a goal of universal hearing accessibility. Work (Reading, Mass.), 46(2), 139–150. https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-131742 Jennings, M. B. (2010, March 1). Universal Design for hearing: Considerations for examining hearing demands and developing hearing friendly workplaces. AudiologyOnline. https://www.audiologyonline.com/articles/universal-design-for-hearing-considerations-862
