Top 10 Theatres in the UK for People with Hearing Loss

I’m keen to always ensure that theatre remains both affordable for everyone and also accessible for everyone.

Hearing aid specialist, ReSound has recently complete research into the most popular UK theatres to discover which are the most accessible to thos visitors with hearing impairments, based on the facilities they provide.

Venues were rated out of of a total of 80 points and then ranked according to that score.

Coming out at number tenth was the Old Vic with 29 points

The Theatre Royal Bath scored ninth with 38 points

Coming in joint sixth place was The Lyric Theatre Belfast, the Citizens Theatre Glasgow and The National Theatre

In joint third place with 45.2 points were The London Coliseum, the Festival Theatre Edinburgh and Shakespeare’s Globe

The Cruicble Theatre Sheffield was the runner up scoring 47.7 points

Coming top of the list was the Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester achieving a recognisable 49 out of 80

It was noted that the Royal Exchange offers a wide range of accommodating features for visitors, including captioned performances that display the actors’ dialogue on screens around the First Gallery Level.

It also notes that wireless hearing enhancements are also available to use in conjunction with hearing aids to improve sound quality, or for those communicating through sign language, there are also various signed performances with a British Sign Language interpreter for each production.

It was great to see so many theatres recognised for the work they do to help make theatre accessible and its particularly impressive to see the Royal Exhange beat the likes of the National Theatre to the top place.

That said, with other tourist attractions such as the British Museum scoring a hugely impressive 78.2 out of 80, it shows there’s still a huge amount of work to do to ensure that those with a hearing impairment are just as welcome to the theatre as everyone else.