A LOCAL business has teamed up with a city centre venue to help more people enjoy events.
The Hub at St Mary’s has announced that independent audiology firm Cathedral Hearing has become its ‘Hearing Partner of Choice’.
The Sandford Street practice will help the social enterprise community coffee shop and events venue to improve the customer experience for people living with hearing loss.
Cathedral Hearing’s principal audiologist Laura Evans was asked to assess the venue’s hearing loop system – and after chatting with staff, the idea of a partnership to help more people enjoy the venue more was formed.
The partnership will also create and host a regular support group for those with hearing loss, including friends and family of those affected.
Laura said:
“According to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), approximately 18 million people in the UK are deaf, have hearing loss or experience tinnitus. That means roughly one in three people experience hearing challenges when accessing music, arts and culture.
“I’m delighted that The Hub team asked us to help them transform both the experience of existing visitors and others who may be hesitant to visit venues like this that it fully embraces and welcomes those with hearing difficulties, making arts, culture and music accessible to all.”
Helen Campbell, from The Hub, said:
“It’s amazing how one conversation has led to a partnership that will improve our visitor experience.
“Having chatted about the challenges of visiting venues likes ours for people with hearing loss, we wanted to champion this group and support them as much as possible.
“As a social enterprise, it is important for us to make our venue accessible to as many people as possible. Thanks to this partnership, we hope many more people will be able to enjoy high quality arts, music and culture in the future.”
