How to Hear at a Theater, Concert
or Live Show When You’re Hard of Hearing

A live show asks a lot of your hearing and gives you no way to ask for a repeat. The sound is loud, the mix is built for people with typical hearing, and the actor who just delivered the line that explains the whole second act has already moved on. At a concert, the lyrics you wanted to follow are buried under the band. At a play, the quiet scene is the one where everyone leans forward and you lean back, sure you are missing something.

If you are hard of hearing, the frustration is double, because the best part of a live show is being in the room, and being in the room is exactly what makes it hard to follow. This guide covers why live events are difficult to hear, which listening systems venues use and how they work, what to ask the box office before you buy, how the ADA applies, how to handle the lobby and intermission, and where a hard of hearing app fits and where it does not.

Why a live show is a hard room to hear in

• The sound is designed to be loud. Amplification fills the room, and loud sound can blur speech and lyrics together rather than make them clearer.
• There is no repeat button. At a movie you can sometimes catch the next line from context. Live, the moment is gone.
• The faces are far away. From the back of a hall, you cannot read lips or expressions, so the extra help that face-to-face talk gives you disappears.
• The vocabulary is unguessable. New songs, character names, invented words and period language are exactly the content you cannot predict.
• The room is full of other sound. Rustling, coughing, whispering and the people who sing along all compete with the stage.
• It is dark. You cannot look at a program, a friend or a phone without disturbing everyone near you.

The U.S. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders reports that approximately 15 percent of American adults, about 37.5 million people, report some trouble hearing. The next time you look around a full house, a good number of the people near you are working harder than they let on. You can read the figure on the NIDCD quick statistics page.

The three kinds of listening system, in plain English

Many theaters, concert halls and auditoriums offer an assistive listening system, a way to bring the sound closer to your ear. The NIDCD describes three kinds used in large facilities, and the differences matter when you call the box office. The details are on the NIDCD assistive devices page.

• Hearing loop (induction loop). A thin loop of wire encircles a room. Amplified sound travels through it and creates an electromagnetic field that a telecoil picks up directly. A telecoil, or t-coil, is a small coil inside many hearing aids and cochlear implants, and you switch to it. If you do not have a telecoil, a loop receiver with a headset can give similar benefits. You have to be within or near the loop.
• FM system. It uses radio signals to transmit amplified sound to a receiver you wear. FM systems can reach up to 300 feet according to the NIDCD, and nearby rooms may use different channels.
• Infrared system. It uses infrared light to carry sound to a receiver you wear. The signal cannot pass through walls, which helps in buildings where competing signals are a problem, and it does not work well outdoors or in strongly lit rooms.

Not every venue has one, and not every seat is covered equally. That is why the call matters.

What the ADA says, in general terms

This is general information, not legal advice. The ADA's effective communication guidance says title III entities, meaning businesses and nonprofit organizations that serve the public, must communicate effectively with people who have communication disabilities. For a person who is deaf or hard of hearing, its examples of aids include assistive listening systems and devices, real-time captioning, written materials, a qualified notetaker and a qualified interpreter. It says a business may require reasonable advance notice based on the time needed to acquire an aid, but may not impose excessive notice requirements, and that walk-in requests must be honored to the extent possible. It also says businesses need not provide an aid that would be an undue burden, defined as significant difficulty or expense, and must offer another effective aid if possible. The full text is on the ADA effective communication page.

The practical takeaway: you are entitled to ask, giving notice helps, and what is available varies from venue to venue.

Before you buy: what to ask the box office

A short call or email before you book can change the whole evening.

• What listening system do you have? Loop, FM, infrared or none, and whether the building has more than one.
• Which seats work best with it? A loop only covers part of a room. Ask where to sit before you choose tickets.
• How do I borrow a receiver? Ask where to pick it up, whether there is a deposit or ID and when to arrive. Ask whether it comes with a headset or a neckloop for a telecoil.
• Is there a captioned or interpreted performance? Some productions schedule these on specific dates, and the box office will know.
• Can I get a program, a synopsis or a script? Reading the story first makes the fast scenes much easier to follow.
• Where are the accessible seats? Companion seats next to you help when you need to lean over and ask something.

In the room: seat, signal and settings

Closer is not always better. A seat near the stage speakers can be louder and blurrier, while a seat with a clear view of faces and a good loop or receiver signal is often the winner. If you have hearing aids with a telecoil, ask your audiologist how to switch to the telecoil program and practice at home. Arrive early, pick up the receiver, test it while the room is quiet and ask an usher for help if the signal is weak. Read the program before the lights go down so the character names and song titles are already in your head.

And give yourself permission to miss a line. Nobody follows every word of a live show, and the point is to be there.

The lobby, the intermission and the after-party

The show is only part of the evening. There is the box office, the will-call window, the usher who checks your ticket, the bar line at intermission, the merchandise table and the conversation afterward over a drink. These are close, face-to-face and well lit, and they are where most people actually struggle with noisy lobbies and fast ticket windows.

If the night ends with a band shirt, you can also browse some vintage t-shirts from the era of your favorite group, and keep your size in a phone note so you never have to shout it at the merch table.

A deaf app or HoH app for the rest of the night

This is where a hard of hearing app earns its place. RoomTalk turns the voices near you into big captions on your phone. At the will-call window, set the phone on the counter, let the person talk normally and read as they speak. At intermission, put it on the little table while you order, and afterward, use it with friends over dinner. It runs fully offline, so it works in a basement bar or a stone theater with poor signal. Our page on how it works shows the screen, and big text shows how readable the captions are across a table.

If you want to compare options first, read our guide to the best apps for deaf and hard of hearing people and what to look for in a deaf and hard of hearing app.

What a captions app does not do at a live show

It is not for the performance. A phone screen in a dark house is a distraction to everyone around you, and many venues ask that devices stay away during the show. Use the venue's listening system, a program or a captioned performance instead.

It will not follow a stage. A phone microphone is not a stage microphone, and it cannot caption lyrics over a band or actors across a hall.

It does not replace a venue's responsibilities. If you need an aid, ask the venue. The app is for your own conversations.

It struggles when several people talk at once, and it will not always get names right, so ask the person to spell one that matters.

And it is not a hearing test or a medical device. It is a communication aid for the conversations near you. Our guides to hearing at the movies, hearing at church and hearing in a loud restaurant cover rooms that look a lot like this one.

If you run a small venue

Small changes help every guest. Say on your website what listening system you have and how to borrow it, train the box office staff to answer questions about seating, offer a printed synopsis, and make it easy to ask in advance. If your phone goes unanswered while you set up the stage, practical Ai for small business can answer the ticket-time questions for you.

The short version

Call the box office before you buy and ask which listening system the venue has and where to sit. Read the program first. Pick up the receiver early and test it. Keep the phone away during the performance, and save the captions for the window, the lobby, the bar and the walk to the car, where the conversations are close and the whole point is being together.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a hearing loop, and how do I use one at a theater?

A hearing loop, also called an induction loop, uses a thin wire that encircles a room to send amplified sound as an electromagnetic signal. The NIDCD explains that the signal is picked up directly by a receiver or by a telecoil, a small coil inside many hearing aids and cochlear implants. If your devices have a telecoil, you switch them to the telecoil setting. If they do not, a loop receiver with a headset can give similar benefits. You have to be within or near the loop, so ask the box office which seats it covers.

Can I ask a theater or venue for an assistive listening device?

Yes, it is a reasonable thing to ask. The ADA's effective communication guidance says businesses that serve the public, which it calls title III entities, must communicate effectively with people who have communication disabilities. Its list of aids includes assistive listening systems and devices and real-time captioning. A business may ask for reasonable advance notice, may not impose excessive notice requirements and must honor walk-in requests to the extent possible. This is general information, not legal advice, and the rules do not require every venue to offer every aid.

Is it okay to use a captions app during the performance?

Usually not. A glowing phone screen in a dark theater bothers the people around you, and many venues ask guests to keep phones away during a show. Ask the venue what it offers instead, such as a listening system, a seat near the front, a program or script, or a captioned performance if one is scheduled. A captions app is most useful before and after the show and at intermission, when people are close, the lights are up and the conversations are the whole point.

Is RoomTalk worth having for live events?

RoomTalk is a one-time $4.99 purchase, now on the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad and available for Android direct from us, and it works fully offline with no account. It turns the voices near you into big captions, which suits the box office window, the usher, the lobby, the merch table and the dinner or drinks around the show. It is not a hearing test, it does not replace a venue's listening system, and it is not meant to be held up during the performance.