Meetings, induction loops and Language Service Professionals (LSPs)

Deafened people can usually manage communication face to face but group situations are much more difficult. Even three is a crowd. Generally, deafened people may need communication support at meetings if they are to participate in and contribute to the meeting. The owners of premises used for meetings sometimes install induction loops in meeting rooms, and this goes some way to meeting their obligations under the DDA. However, the quality of sound received from a loop is very variable, depending on the skill with which it has been installed, the positioning of microphones collecting sound and feeding it to the loop, and the acoustics and furnishing of the room. A loop will only be of use to someone wearing a hearing aid or cochlear implant with a T-switch.

If you are attending a lecture or similar event then the sound quality can be dramatically improved by the use of a radio microphone system. The lecturer wears a radio transmitter, usually linked to a tie-clip microphone, and the user wears a receiver end which feeds a neck loop to drive the inductive pickup facility on a hearing aid or cochlear implant. With some systems connectors are available which allow the signal to be fed into the accessory shoe on the hearing aid or cochlear implant. Educational institutions should be equipped to provide this type of system on request as a “reasonable adjustment” under the Disability Discrimination Act. (See also Factsheet 6.).

Alternatively, it may be necessary to call on the assistance of highly trained people known as Language Service Professionals (LSPs). They were previously known as Human Aids to Communication (HACs) and you may still find that term used in some places. The assistance that they can give takes several forms.

Lipspeakers are people who are trained to convey a speaker's message to the deaf person accurately using unvoiced speech and clear lip patterns. They pass on what is being said almost word for word about half a sentence behind the speaker so that lip-readers can follow. They may omit inessential words to bring the message down to a lip-readable speed.

Interpreters are people who translate English into British Sign Language (BSL) or Signs Supporting English (SSE). You need to be able to sign fairly fluently in order to use an interpreter.

Speech to text reporters (STTRs) are people who provide a verbatim record of what is being said using a system of machine shorthand and a special keyboard. They key in phonetic syllables which the computer software turns into readable English. STTRs are highly trained, and can work at up to 200 words per minute and beyond to provide a verbatim account of what is being said - there is a slight time lag of 2 or 3 seconds. The output can be displayed on monitors or projected onto a screen for a large meeting. The two most widely used systems are Palantype and Stenograph. As the text passes through a computer, it can be stored and subsequently printed out as a verbatim report of what was said.

Notetakers are people who provide a précis of what is being said. Good notetaking requires a skilled practitioner to provide this précis without omitting any essential information and it is essential to use somebody who has received proper training for the job. There are both manual notetakers and electronic notetakers. Manual notetakers use pen and paper and mostly work in educational contexts. Electronic notetakers use a computer with an ordinary keyboard, but with software that allows them to expand abbreviations into words in some cases, which allows them to attain a higher speed than typing every letter. The best electronic notetakers can reach speeds of up to 110 words a minute. The main systems used by electronic notetakers are SpeedText and Stereotype.

If you are seeking a job, in employment or a student you may be able to get special grants to pay for LSPs through schemes such as Access to Work (See Factsheets 2 and 3). Meetings of deaf organisations such as NADP, Hearing Concern and RNID will normally try to arrange to have one or more LSPs present.

See Factsheet 1 under Communication Support for contact details of Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People (CACDP), Association of Lipspeakers, RNID, Hearing Concern who hold and/or publish lists of qualified LSPs. Anyone requiring a LSP should contact one of these organisations.

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