Transport for Wales tests new announcement service for passengers with hearing loss

Transport for Wales (TfW) has successfully tested the new onboard personal announcement service for passengers with hearing loss

The Hearing Enhanced Audion Relay (HEAR) app provides personalised journey information announcements and was trialled on TfW trains using the Rhymney – Penarth route over a period of two months. The HEAR app is part of the rail operator’s bid to improve journeys for passengers with hearing loss.

Passengers using the app can connect to onboard Wi-Fi and get real-time personalised journey announcements on their smart device. The notifications have been specially designed to cater for passengers’ needs an example of which would be the choice to inform them of announcements relating to their destination with the option of using both audible and readable formats.

HEAR is funded via the Department for Transport using its £9m ‘First of a Kind 2021’ competition which was delivered by Innovate UK (part of UKRI).

Michael Davies, Insight and Innovation Manager at Transport for Wales, said: “We are committed to making our network as accessible as possible. Working with GoMedia on HEAR has given us the opportunity to test a solution that could provide huge benefits to customers and encourage people to choose rail.”

Approximately one in six adults in the UK are affected by hearing loss and this is estimated to increase to 14.5 million people by 2031 which represents around 20% of the population will suffer from some kind of hearing loss. 60% of passengers with accessibility needs find it difficult to carry out journeys independently which means that it is vital that public transport becomes more accessible for all passengers.

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Roger Matthews, GoMedia’s Managing Director, added: “HEAR offers a more versatile and cost-efficient solution to installing expensive hearing loops on trains. The benefits of the solution also extend beyond improving accessibility for passengers with hearing loss – The app itself is customisable, supports multiple languages, and can give passengers an overview of previously made announcements and delay information updates, making it a useful tool for all passengers, where they are visiting from abroad, or would just like to relax on their journey without having to worry about listening out for announcements.

The technology has been developed by GoMedia which is a subsidiary of Icomera and of EQUANS and has also been supported by charities Hearing Link and Hearing Dogs in order to alleviate difficulties passengers with accessibility needs experience by utilising purpose-designed technology using real-time information.

A survey of 58 people with hearing loss was carried out by charities Hearing Link and Hearing Dogs revealed that 96% would like to have a solution such as HEAR put in place on public transport, at the moment just 7% were slightly confident that they would be alerted to changes and disruptions whilst travelling, and only 16% felt they were treated equally when compared to people without hearing loss.