Suzy Duncan, Member, Rossendale, Hove writes (online submission 2 October 2008): I wear two hearing aids and am extremely deaf. I would always welcome any additional AV displays on transport of any kind. I frequently travel by train from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston and find the AV displays are very good at both stations. Virgin trains also have a fair amount of info displayed inside the trains, however there are frequent announcements which happen after each stop and at other times too and I have no idea what they are talking about. I have to switch off my aids as they are quite lengthy and bothersome.

The London Underground trains appear to have good AV displays now but I was very impressed last week whilst travelling on the 52 bus from Victoria to note an excellent and useful display inside the bus which explained which stop we were at and in which direction the bus was going. It also showed which the next bus stop would be. Like many other people, I frequently have to ask fellow passengers what is happening if the train, tube, bus has stopped. I dread to think what it would be like if there was a serious incident.

Warwick Winston, Hove writes: Although I am very deaf with two hearing aids.  I have never had a sound problem at railway stations (I cannot hear what the loudspeaker system says anyway) or on buses.

However, I am also very disabled with a shoulder and neck brace and am on two crutches and at 85 travel regularly on a weekly basis by train by myself and there is no problem as long as you do it correctly by the book.  Also the rail companies recognise deafness as a disability.

Every rail company has a disabled section. You telephone them at least the day before travel. They will meet you at the station on arrival, put you on the train and telephone ahead to tell the arrival station what carriage you are in (they know you are coming anyway on that train) and it does not matter how many changes you have to make, they meet you at each station and it works. If for any reason you are 'thrown' off a train, you only have to get hold of any station staff and the service swings into action again. I cannot really see how they can put in a visual aide.

I have travelled disabled since 1980 and as long as you do it by the book it works, by train in this country and by air at all airports throughout the world. Nobody is infallible and mistakes must happen at times, which they do their best to correct immediately. 

With a bus it is easy to see I am disabled, and the driver has always come to me.

William Miller, Musselburgh writes: I certainly think more audio visual display should be in use on buses, trains, planes and anywhere where emergency evacuation could be required. We are living in an age of possible terrorist attack and deaf or hard of hearing people are very vulnerable and hearing loss is not always noticed so I rest my case.

Tony and Judy McKeown, Bromley writes: AV displays would be an enormous help in stations. I recently travelled via London Bridge and St Pancras to Leicester and there were many announcements by staff (including platform changes and cancellations) which I am sure hearing people had trouble in deciphering. There are visual displays at these mainline stations but the important last minute messages are still fed to the passengers through an inadequate PA system.

Teresa Copp, Woking writes: I have certainly been left sitting on the Woking to Heathrow coach in the snow when trying to get to the airport for a trip to Houston. All the other passengers had moved to a different coach and although I and my children had not moved (because I didn't hear anything and the children were not expecting to hear anything), the coach driver didn't think to explain (he did know I was deaf as I had spoken to him at some length on entering the coach) until the other coach was pulling away - luckily, the first coach left before too long and we did not miss our flight - but we might have done!

Air travel is difficult too - my teenage children do listen out for announcements for me, but if I am alone, it is quite frustrating as I don't hear the announcements. 

Also, the in-flight entertainment does not have subtitles, although it easily could have since most new films have subtitling available. This means I have paid the same as other passengers but receive a substantially reduced service - this is especially true for long haul flights. They manage to subtitle the emergency procedures - why not the entertainment? I can't manage with a neck loop or hearing aid compatible headphones as my hearing loss is too great.

Trains now are much better and almost all trains and platforms have a visual display - same for tube trains - not sure what would be displayed in an emergency situation though.

Diana McMullan, Lisburn writes: Yes indeed! At railway stations particularly, where it seems that if they yell loud enough over the tannoy they feel sure 'everybody' will hear - which we do not! Buses in my experience aren't so bad.

Patricia Barrett, Bury writes: Definitely there should be more AV displays on public transport. I wear two hearing aids, and function well with them, but I haven't a clue what is being said when announcements are made on public address systems. I find it very helpful at railway stations when they have AV displays with details of trains, time of arrival and platform.

When I have travelled on buses overseas I have been impressed by AV screens that show the name of the next bus stop. This is probably helpful for people with normal hearing too. Bus drivers don't always remember to tell you when you reach your stop so AV displays give you some independence and reassurance.

Patricia Ormiston, Edinburgh writes: Very definitely yes. I had experience of a trial once and it made a tremendous difference. Also with all the modern technology why can't aircraft have loop systems? Their PA system is virtually unintelligible as far as I am concerned.

Norman Graves, Epsom writes: Yes! Most announcements on public transport system are useless for those of us who are hard of hearing. This includes announcements made in open areas such as embarkation places for ferries. Only the London tube and train announcements in the trains are understandable.

Mike Spensley, Bushey writes: Absolutely agree, I am deaf and earlier this year I was travelling late at night from London, the new Kings Cross station, to Radlett. All of the visual signs had one message saying "listen for announcements"; there were no obvious staff around to ask, so I had no idea which train I should be getting on. I had to ask another passenger for help. I wrote to the station manager the next day but never had a reply. 

I have also been caught out on the London Underground more than once when, whilst waiting at a station everyone suddenly gets up and exits the train, I obviously follow but again no visual signs on the platform to say what is happening. Things are gradually improving with visual signs on the underground but still have a long way to go.  I do think that hearing people have no idea of how difficult travelling can be for a deaf person.

Maureen Taylor, Chorley writes: Yes Yes Yes!  I was on the Manchester Metro recently and couldn't hear a word they said. Can't usually hear station announcements either (nor can my hearing husband). AV displays would be much better.

Madeline Shaw, Farnham, writes: Visuals would be particularly appreciated at stations as so many of those doing the announcing put the emphasis on the inessential but mumble the vital key words. "The TRAIN now standing ay PLATFORM burble is FOR ..."  And the same goes for announcements on the actual train. Some lines have these and they are generally excellent but others leave it to the driver or ticket attendant where the same problem arises. The last time I travelled on a long distance train it stopped for an hour and a half because an earlier train had broken down. I had to ask another passenger to keep me informed as I couldn't understand a word of the announcement.

Lynn Dubin, Oxford writes: Yes, even we hearing members need AV displays on trains as there is often too much background noise, or poor quality sound, for spoken messages to be heard.

Kathleen Agnew, Carrickfergus writes: Yes, definitely!  Providing they are accurate.

Karen Foggett, Abingdon writes: I'm SO glad you are campaigning for this as it's always been a real problem for me. My health centre provides a simple audiovisual marker to call patients in for appointments, so if our strapped-for-cash NHS service providers can afford to do this surely it can't be a question of cost? It's time the big cheeses of the public transport world caught up with 21st century technology and provided their deaf and hard-of-hearing commuters with this basic service.

June Hamilton, Colchester writes: As a hearing person with deaf family I strongly feel that wherever there are audio announcements there should be the visual equivalent. These visual announcements would not only be beneficial to deaf people but to anyone. I often struggle to understand what is being said in a verbal announcement because they are rarely clear and I know I am not alone in this. I much prefer to 'look at' an announcement. 

That being said audio announcements should not be replaced, even with their lack of clarity, as we also have to consider blind people who rely on these.

John Gibson, Bracknell writes: Yes, AV displays could help a lot. A few suggestions:

I am also pleased to see that motorways are being fitted with character based display boards – showing how useful such things are!

Hilary Hartley, Polegate writes: Yes please - more visual information the better. My local bus services use radio controlled messages from the bus to the bus stop so I know just how long the bus will be – mind you it doesn't actually improve the number of buses on the route – just lets me know how long before the next one, and if it is quicker to walk.

Geraldine Taylor, Sherborne writes: I am deaf totally in one ear after an operation to remove an acoustic neuroma. It would be a great service if there were more audiovisual displays actually on the platforms at stations which are large, i.e. Waterloo where I travel in and out of regularly.

There is usually no one to ask whether the whole train is going the full journey as often the train is severed at Salisbury, so I have to travel in the front and it isn't always clear what's what. When there is a great deal of noise and no announcements at all, it is even more confusing, and you find yourself trying to hear something which may not occur at all. Usually the main signboard has details but this is a very high-up affair and catches the light, therefore sometimes one is in doubt as to whether the train is in or not and certainly you don't always get the platform number. 

There are signs at the platform entrance but these are not often used to enlighten people as to which train is at which platform. You can't keep walking up and down just to see if a notice has been put up. It can also be that the train still has Waterloo (or wherever) on it which adds to the confusion. Ones over the entrance to the platform would be the best as they should be visible from a distance. Partially sighted people would benefit from this type of sign also, being, hopefully, in larger print. Again, I would suggest that with the information on where the train is going, they add whether it is doing a complete journey with all carriages and of not what part of the train is for what part of the journey.

Timings have to appear as some train services keep to the regular pattern, others do not and, as my husband found recently, the majority or trains leave at the same time past the hour but an odd few alter and there again, if you do not, or cannot, hear anyone telling you this, you could lose out by an hour and have to pay again if you did not have an open-end ticket. Not everyone can think in today's fast-pace society to check their ticket!  If you have been delayed on the way, then you don't usually think there is time to check your ticket either. Some stations, like Clapham Junction, appear to have neither announcements (or bad, unclear ones) nor signs, whether for train times and platforms or anything else. Being one of the world's busiest stations, this is terrible if you are in a hurry and, being deaf, are usually a little confused in any case, or so I find.

Occasionally on my line out of Waterloo we also take another few carriages which then go to Cardiff and if there is no one to ask, you can find yourself in the wrong part of the train and any announcements by the guard are sometimes lost in the noise of the train itself or the general noise of humans. This means AV in carriages (there is some in the odd carriage) would be a great assistance to deaf and partially deaf people (like me). Even the guard didn't know whether the central portion of the train was for use by anyone on one journey - this has nothing to do with announcements you can't hear but with incompetence, which, naturally doesn't help either!

AV telling you whether you can actually board the train would be helpful too because I have found I cannot always get on and have had to go back and any announcements again (if there are indeed any) get lost into thin air.

It could actually become trickier once the automatic gates come into service because if you get yourself onto the wrong platform I am not at all sure what would happen.

Geoffrey Connor, London writes: I would agree that more visual signage would be a welcome improvement. Public announcements at railway stations and on trains should be spoken slowly, well articulated and preferably by a woman so that hard of hearing and foreign travellers who may not be fluent in conversational English have a chance of understanding the message. After all the efforts to improve such matters, it is amazing how rarely one comes across any such basic verbal clarity. 

Elaine Webster, Bilateral Cochlear Implant User, Melksham writes: I don't like to go by train because I'm profoundly deaf and wear bilateral cochlear implants: it's very difficult to hear about platform changes - even my hearing husband says the tannoy is dreadful, hence this speaks volumes in that I can't hear and my hearing husband can't hear it - that obviously leaves about 97% of the population who gets on trains have difficulty hearing it. 

It's very stressful trying to hear and so DEFINITELY a lot more audiovisual displays would improve it so much that it would be less stressful for everybody and hey we ARE in the 21st century with fantastic technology these days so there is NO EXCUSE for train stations to have more visual displays. Just think you might get more passengers for trains then!

Brenda Flack, Rugby writes: On a recent trip to Hamburg, I went with my friend on several of the buses in that city and was surprised and delighted to see an AV display on every bus. It informed us of the whereabouts of the next stop throughout the ride and removed all sense of anxiety.
 
I would like to see an AV display in public places like hospital and doctors' waiting areas/rooms. So often in my own doctor's waiting room I have struggled to hear the intercom while a noisy toddler played with (noisy) toys supplied there. Any suggestion of having an AV display has not been taken up. In hospital areas, having a nurse come and shout out one's name in a large place is not the ideal way to do things for the deaf or hard of hearing.
 
I don't travel by rail as a rule because I hate to travel in a fog of anxiety in case I am on the wrong train. At least on a bus one can stop it and get off if it turns out to be the wrong bus. That is not possible on a train.

Jasmine Barley, Ferndown writes: AV displays would be a God send as although I have some hearing, travelling is a nightmare due to the stress of not being able to hear announcements - I know something has been said but don't have a clue as to what!  From the number of hearing people I ask for clarification of what was said via the tannoy there's an awful lot of hearing people who would benefit too.

I travel regularly to London from Bournemouth and although several of the trains have visual destination info they are not used for public address announcements. On the return journey these trains often divide into two at Southampton, and if you are in the wrong 5 coaches the journey take the best part of an hour longer or doesn't stop at the smaller stations.

Antony Martin, Orpington writes: I am 75 years old and have a hearing aid. I find that the audiovisual signings on the buses and underground are a great improvement and make journeys less of a nightmare. The background especially on the tube makes it almost impossible to hear and understand any spoken word.
Andrew Brodie, London writes: London Gatwick was a visual only airport and was a success. Why bother with audio? Case proven. With care in display writing visual is also much more helpful for visitors - 50% in London!

Andrew Arthur, Liskeard: I think it would be a great idea. A few trains use visual displays and I find them a lot of help. I can't stand it when I am on a train and the loudspeaker goes droning on endlessly with information I can't use.

Visual displays would also be useful in case of emergency, when people may be wondering what to do next. Deaf people are disadvantaged at such times and a visual display system might save their life.

David Hooper, Chester writes: Yes I've missed the train because the indicators were not clear (due to sunlight etc) or not up to date. Particularly the former! The indicators at Crewe have been improved lately; those at Chester await attention; Euston is fine.

Alison Keys, Cambridge writes: I find that the "automated" voices at railway stations and on trains are quite clear and I am usually able to hear them. However, what is very difficult for me to understand are the "real voice" announcements. This is, of course, doubly problematic - they are giving up-to-date, emergency information and many of us have to remain ignorant of it!

This system is not only difficult for the one in seven, either: I was using the London underground recently, accompanied by my daughter, when an incident occurred. She heard the announcement, but wasn't paying attention! Someone else on the platform thought that "it was only something about the Edgware Road". Many of us, in this situation, would benefit greatly from visual, as well as verbal, information; it could be displayed for a reasonable amount of time and, with repeated verbal announcements more people would get the correct message (and even be able to relay it to others.)

Anthony Squires, Boston writes: Yes. Many public announcements are unintelligible. Even at the doctor's when the receptionist calls your name, despite my telling them of my deafness and asking them to be sure I have heard! I have recently changed to another surgery, not because of that complaint. At the new one the doctor comes and collects you, much better. Visual information is so much better in all public address systems.

Philip Hatcher, Watford writes: As a frequent rail user there is no doubt in my mind that additional AV would most certainly "ease the burden". Particularly as there is a tendency to assume making an announcement once is sufficient.

This problem also extends to within the trains, and the Underground is a prime example. Drivers make announcements which sound garbled for the following reasons: