Thomas Ron has announced that hearing loops will be installed in a number of lecture halls.
The new additions are designed to help students who are hard of hearing to be able to listen to their lecturers more clearly.
The campaign was headed by Ron and Halifax College Disabilities Officer, Josh Salisbury, who have now secured the instalment of hearing loops in a number of large lecture theatres across campus including Hendrix Hall, PS/B/020 and C/A/101.
Speaking to Vision, Ron said: “I am very happy the University has agreed to fix the hearing loops in its major lecture theatres.
“When Josh and I toured those theatres we were shocked at how rooms that regularly service over 100 people an hour had no provision for any of the students, meaning that students would have to rely on individual hearing loops.
“It is good to hear that the university has listened to our concerns and is acting to fix the problems and hopefully all major lecture theatres will be compliant and working.”
Josh Salisbury explained how the system would work: “The system works by sending the audio from a microphone to the induction loop, which sends out a signal that can be picked up directly by hearing-aids. This cuts out a lot of background noise and directly amplifies the lecturer’s voice.”
Salisbury told Vision: “It’s a great help to people like myself who wear hearing aids, as I’m sure you can imagine. When Tom, Josh Tracey and I went to the lecture halls, we were quite surprised to find many of them didn’t work or weren’t even in place. However the University has listened to our criticisms and has agreed to fix the problems.
“This is great not just for hearing-aid users like myself but also for people with other disabilities, as it shows that the University can and does act on problems affecting disabled students.”