4 Wedding Planning Tips to Accommodate Hearing-Impaired or Deaf Guests

If you're coming up with your wedding guest list, then odds are you may be inviting a few people with some form of hearing loss. 

A recent study of over 35,000 adults published in Trends in Hearing discovered that around 26% of males and 20% of females aged 20 to over 80 self-reported trouble hearing. Predictably, the study also found that the prevalence of hearing aid use increased with age. Your wedding is an important milestone, and every guest deserves to enjoy the ceremony—especially the older folks whose presence is a gift in itself. You don't want anyone missing a word of your vows, the entourage speeches and all the fun bits of your reception! Here are a few hearing-inclusive options to mull over so nobody feels left out of the fun:

Work with existing technology

Some of your guests who are hearing aid users might already have a personal FM system, which transmits sounds and voices from a microphone. This way, they don't have to be close to whoever's speaking, as the voices will go directly into their hearing aid from a remote microphone. You'll need to ensure that, at every point, key speakers (like the officiant or reception host) are given the body-worn microphone at the appropriate times so your guests can keep track. Your other guests may want to use a loop system that transmits sounds from one or several microphones. The catch is that you must check that your chosen wedding venue has a pre-installed loop system.

Opt for assistive listening devices

Outside of relying on what your guests or venue already have, you can provide key guests with the assistive listening devices (ALDs) they need. ALDs are gadgets or systems that make it easier for people to hear, especially in busy environments like weddings, which are notorious for background noise. You can hand them out as thoughtful pre-wedding gifts for the couple's parents, grandparents or even entourage members. Aside from just making it easier to hear, hearing aid glasses now provide an all-in-one solution for wedding guests who struggle to see and hear. To help cut through background noise, Nuance Audio glasses have specialized beamforming technology, which can be further calibrated to suit each guest's unique needs. With options to add prescription and transition lenses, the device helps users enjoy your big day, whether it's an indoor low-light affair or an ultra-bright garden party. Unlike a traditional hearing device, modern ALDs blend in with any wedding theme, ensuring discretion for every user.

Add subtitles wherever possible

Another way to help hard-of-hearing or deaf guests feel welcomed is by adding closed captions or subtitles to every audio-visual aspect of your wedding. You can coordinate to have the scripted segments and songs from the ceremony and your wedding videos played at the reception be pre-coded with subtitles. If possible, ask your wedding planner to secure copies of everyone's speeches in advance so that the words can also be flashed on a screen. For a more immersive experience, augmented reality glasses also transcribe speech, translate nine different languages, and produce subtitles in near real-time. To achieve this, specialized glasses are paired with apps like XRAI Glass to subtitle conversations, even attributing different voices to different speakers. This can help hard-of-hearing individuals enjoy the festivities not just on video but also when conversing with other wedding guests. When guests can read and clearly understand what's happening, they can focus less on comprehension and simply have fun like everyone else!

Tailor your wedding venue

In the same way that you can make wedding-related decisions that work for yourself and your partner (and not worry about what everyone else thinks), you can also engineer your wedding venue to work for those who need help in the hearing department. Certain guests can be seated in front and at specific angles to make lip reading easier. You can opt to hire an interpreter to add a personal touch. Or, ensure these guests are seated next to people who can help provide them context, such as their children or spouses. Using this "buddy system" is especially helpful if the hearing-impaired or deaf guest is part of the entourage and will feature heavily in photographs and activities.

Hearing loss doesn't have to stop guests from enjoying your wedding to the fullest. With a combination of thoughtfulness and technology, you can help each guest hear to the best of their ability.

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