Current access provision

Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people wanting to attend a live theatre performance need to use one or more assistive devices. These include:

• sound enhancement
• sign language interpretation
• captioning

Sound enhancement systems, which include induction loops, infrared and radio, are particularly helpful to people with a mild hearing loss.

Sign language interpretation enables people with sign language, whether as a first or second language, to enjoy live performance in the language that is most appropriate to them.

Captioning builds on the experience of television subtitles and is particularly useful for people whose hearing loss means that sound enhancement systems alone are not enough. Access to captioning and a sound enhancement system enables many people to ‘hear’ the spoken text much more clearly. A theatre that is aiming to be fully accessible to all deaf people will offer all three assistive devices: sound enhancement, sign language interpretation and captioning for their performances.