A few months ago, I wrote about inclusivity for the hard of hearing (HoH) community in the workplace. Today I want to focus on how to make in-person conferences more accessible for those of us who struggle to hear and participate in large gatherings.
Networking events are a fiasco.
Companies love to sponsor networking events. Places where people gather to mingle either with or without alcohol and activities. Groups gather, talk, laugh, meet and greet.
For someone who is hard of hearing, this type of event is a complete non-starter. I promise you, without fail, I cannot hear you. At all. Ever. I cannot hear one word that you say. It doesn’t matter how loudly you shout. Everyone is shouting. You can’t hear anyone either.
I don’t attend networking events. There is no point. I’m not sure why you attend them. But you don’t have the same good excuse that I have.
In-between sessions are also non-starters.
The time we spend in between sessions, walking around the vendor booths to talk to each other and the vendor, can also be rather noisy. Even though the overall volume is lower, in all likelihood I cannot hear most of what you are saying. I try to read your lips, and sometimes I can catch a word or two. I smile. I nod my head. Unfortunately, I have very little idea of what you are saying. You think I’m either weird or completely off my rocker. Unfortunately, we are not communicating, and the only solution is to agree to speak another time in a quiet location. Sorry.
Sessions are hit or miss.
Sometimes, the speakers at a session are terrific. They enunciate clearly. They use the microphone to their best advantage. I can even hear the jokes that people laugh at. These speakers have my complete and total attention. I truly appreciate speakers who I can hear.
I hate to say it (really, I do), but some speakers are just awful. Even with a microphone, I cannot hear them. They swallow their words. I catch a few here and there. I know they make jokes because a few people laugh, but I have no idea what the joke was. If I bother to ask someone next to me, we both miss the next point. Hopefully, the slides lead me through the talk. But I know I’m missing a lot. It is very frustrating to attend a session where the speaker mumbles and the microphone is a useless prop.
Sometimes I can alert the A/V person that the speaker system needs to be turned up. Sometimes doing so causes feedback. Sometimes the situation is hopeless. It can be frustrating. It can be dejecting.
There is a solution to this problem that some conference organizers are using (here’s looking at you, Tekom!). And that is to provide a livestream of each session while it is running. I can sit in the audience, log in to the livestream, and have the captions run across the bottom of my phone or tablet. I turn the audio off and I read what the speaker is saying. This is a very workable solution to this problem.
The Q&A could be so much more effective, if only…
Everyone who has a question-and-answer section at the end of a conference section needs to change the way they receive questions from the audience.
Blanket statement. Everyone. That means you. And you. And you. And me.
Never again should a person ask a question out loud. Never again should I or any other member of the audience try to hear a question someone is asking. The session speaker should not have to hear it. The rest of the audience should not have to try to hear it. And the person with the question should not have to say it.
Instead, all questions should be texted to a cellphone. If you are the speaker, you can set up a Google Voice number just for this purpose and delete the number when you are done. Or you can use your cellphone number. Or you can set up whatever type of message identification on whatever messaging app you want. It is easy and free. The technology works.
The speaker provides the number to all of the attendees at the beginning of the session and invites attendees to send questions at any time during the session.
Questions can be submitted throughout the session. The questions are asked anonymously, because it is highly unlikely the speaker knows the phone numbers of the people asking the questions. For people who are shy or embarrassed to ask questions, this method makes it much easier for them to ask their questions.
The speaker needs to read each question as they answer it. This means that all listeners, HoH or not, hear and understand each question being asked.
This method of receiving and reciting questions needs to be the new default standard.
Interacting is so exhausting.
Everyone gets tired attending a conference. People who are HoH get tired on a physical level. In addition, we get tired on a cognitive level. Our brains work overtime (and super overtime) trying to make sense of the sound we are supposed to be listening to and ignore the other sounds that we are supposed to not care about.
This work is depleting. And it is futile. After 30 years of conference-going, I know there are very few conference moments that offer value for me. These moments are direct one-on-one interactions that I have with individuals over coffee, lunch, or dinner. They are the time away from the conference where I can focus on one or two people and we can communicate. The rest of my time spent in the crowd is nothing but noise.
Why not attend virtually?
Attending a conference virtually has been suggested as a solution to the challenges I face as an HoH person. While I agree that watching livestreamed or recorded sessions is extremely helpful for receiving information, attending a conference via a computer while everyone else is shaking hands is a very poor substitute. It isolates the HoH community, further exacerbating the problems and unintentional discrimination we already face when we are in-person with large groups of normal-hearing people. Please do not suggest virtual sessions as a solution to the problems of in-person conferences for the HoH community.
What can be done?
Unfortunately, the nature of a conference makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for someone who is HoH to function well. A conference is designed to bring lots of people together to network and learn. By design, large groups of people who have something in common gather to meet, share stories, participate in activities, and have fun. Those of us who cannot hear simply cannot engage in most of the activities. Even with the best intentions, it would be a very big ask for conference organizers to plan activities for HoH people.
That said, there are ways to make the informational sessions more accessible using technology that is easily available today. It is time for texting questions instead of speaking them to become the norm. The hearing and HoH communities will both be better served by the practice.
Val is on the Advisory Board for the Technical Communications Program at the University of North Texas. When not working with customers or students, Val can be found sitting behind her sewing machine working on her latest quilt. She also makes a mean hummus.
- How to Make Conferences More Inclusive for the Hard of Hearing Community - December 2, 2024
- Preparing Content for AI: 6 Reasons Why You’re Not Ready - August 29, 2024
- How to Be Inclusive in the Workplace: My Experience as a Hard of Hearing Person - August 12, 2024
