ada

The New ADA Guidelines and SHHH

Donna Sorkin kicked off this workshop with a discussion of the Access Board, which is the federal agency whose mission is to ensure that people with disabilities have equal access. The governing board consists of members from the general public and from various federal agencies. The staff of 30 is involved in developing guidelines for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as well as for federal buildings, telecommunications, and information technology.

SHHH has been instrumental in ensuring that hearing loss issues are appropriately addressed in the ADA guidelines. SHHH Members have provided important input regarding their experiences and have served on the Board as well as on various Advisory Committees. Donna Sorkin was a board member from 1994 to 2002.

Way back in 1994 the Board looked at the existing ADA guidelines and realized that they weren't very good. So they decided to redo them. That began an effort that continues to this day; the Draft Final of the new ADA Guidelines (ADAAG) is complete and is currently in a six month public comment period. A final vote on the ADAAG is expected in July 2002.

The goals of the ADAAG are to:
- Improve the format and readability
- Update the guidelines to accommodate new technology
- Better meet the needs of the disability community
- Coordinate with national standards and codes

SHHH has continually provided input to this process, both in writing and at public hearings. SHHH has been advocating for the following:
- Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) installed in buildings
- Visual Fire/Smoke Alarms installed in buildings
- Volume Controls on all public phones
- Increased TTY Availability
- Captioning in public places and transportation facilities
- Improved classroom acoustics
- Universal movie captions

[Editor: Note that the Access Board, and therefore the ADAAG, is specifically concerned with accessibility in buildings, and that the ADAAG provisions specifically address building-related issues. Persons with hearing loss have rights to additional accommodations beyond those proposed by the Access Board.]

The changes regarding ALDs are:
- The current guidelines regarding Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) only applied to facilities with fixed seats. So movie theaters were required to provide ALDs, but school gymnasiums were not. The ADAAG requires ALDs wherever "audible communication is integral to use of the space" and an amplification system is provided.
- The current guidelines required a facility to provide ALDs for four percent of the seating capacity. The ADAAG has a sliding scale that requires a lower percentage for larger facilities.
- The current guidelines require that receivers be hearing aid compatible. The ADAAG clarifies this by requiring that a percentage of the receivers include neckloops.

In addition the ADAAG specifies the following ALD standards (Note that these standards were developed by the Lexington Center for Hearing Enhancement - Mark Ross et al - with input from SHHH members):
- The receiver plug must be one-eighth inch mono.
- The sound pressure level (SPL) produced by the ALD must be between 110 and 118 dbA.
- The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for internally generated noise must be greater than or equal to 18 db.
- Peak clipping is not to exceed 18 db relative to the peaks of speech.

The ADAAG also includes revised guidelines for hotel and motel visual alerts. Donna recalled an SHHH connection to this guideline at the 1998 convention in Boston. The fire alarm went off during the night, and many of the conventioneers were unaware of it!

Buildings currently have a fire alarm system that includes audible alarms throughout the building. These alarms are generally connected together, so that when one is triggered they all alert. Hotels generally provide people with hearing loss with visual smoke alarms for their rooms. These are not attached to the central alarm system, which means that these alarms won't alert until the room is smoke-filled. The ADAAG requires permanently installed visual alarms that are connected to the central system. Furthermore, all telephones must have a volume control, and there must be an electrical outlet within four feet of the telephone (for a TTY).

Also, the number of guest rooms that must provide these accessible features is greatly increased. The current requirements start at four percent and fall to one percent for facilities with over 1000 guest rooms. For facilities with fewer than 200 guest rooms the ADAAG requires accessible features in ten percent of rooms (minimum one) and increases the requirement as the size of the facility increases. Fifteen percent of rooms in medium facilities (201 - 500 guest rooms) are required to provide these features, and twenty percent of rooms in large facilities (over 500 rooms). Note that these requirements are not retroactive, but apply only to new construction or major renovations.

The ADAAG also improves volume control on public phones. The new guidelines require all public phones to have volume controls (vice 25% under current guidelines). It also requires a minimum amplification of 20 db (vice 18 db currently) and requires an intermediate boost of 12 db. (Note that the initial request was for a minimum boost of 25 db, but that was scaled down to 20.) Finally, it expands applicability to include courtesy phones.

The ADAAG also expands TTY availability. A TTY is required at roadside stops if there is a pay phone, in hospitals if there is a pay phone, in public buildings if there is a pay phone, and in private buildings if there are four or more pay phones. Furthermore, if there is a bank of three or more pay phones, there must be a shelf for a portable TTY.

One disappointment in the ADAAG involves movie captioning. SHHH and others had urged a requirement for closed captioning in movie theaters. However, strong opposition from the movie theater industry prevailed, and the ADAAG does not address movie captioning.

However, there is good news regarding captioning in stadiums, arenas, and grandstands. The ADAAG requires that, where electronic signboards are provided, equivalent text is required for all public announcements, whether pre-recorded or realtime.

Part Two