Woman receives £4,000 payout from university after being told to remove hearing aid

A pensioner has been awarded a £4,000 settlement claim after successfully arguing she was discriminated against on three occasions while attending a theatre. Susan Davies, 80, said she felt "humiliated" and "upset" after she was told to remove her hearing aids while attending AberMusicFest in Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

Ms Davies has worn hearing aids to help with her poor hearing for nearly three years. She said between July 31 and August 3, 2023, she and others were "shouted at" by members of staff to remove their aids claiming it was interfering with the acoustics in the theatre.

She said the experience left her "upset" and she has not returned to the arts centre, where she previously spent a lot of time, since the incident. Ms Davies claimed she found staff "intimidating" and said she was wary about bumping into them in the centre.

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Ms Davies said she has been a "great supporter" of the arts scene in Aberystwyth since she moved to the town. She said: "Over the years we've been a really great supporters of the arts, music in the community, that sort of thing

"That first year in Aber we spent £1,000 on tickets at the arts centre because we love it. It was lovely. Every year we support Aber Music Festival which is a festival of music for young people who come from all over the world – Sweden, Norway, India, China – for tuition with noted music teachers and they give some free music recitals to the public. Some are paid."

During the 2023 festival Ms Davies said she went to several days of the festival attending "three or four concerts a day" on some occasions because it was "an amazing opportunity". These were a mixture of free and paid-for events.

The first instance where she was told to remove her hearing aid occurred on Monday, July 31, during a performance by Llyr Williams. Ms Davies sayid after the first piece the performer left the stage and a member of staff entered the walkway of the auditorium and asked all hearing aid users to turn the volume down claiming it was causing a sound reverberation in the ears of non hearing aid users.

The member of staff then allegedly started searching for "offenders" and eventually sat in a seat two rows behind Ms Davies, which she said was "intimidating". "I didn’t do anything about it initially but I spoke to a friend who was with me and he was a hearing aid user and we were very unhappy with that," said Ms Davies.

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The second instance occurred on Tuesday, August 1, when a member of the audience stood up and asked all audience members to turn down their hearing aids. Ms Davies said she does not know the woman. In describing this incident she said: "She shouted ‘turn your hearing aids off' and one gentleman shouted: ‘How on earth can we hear if we are told to turn our hearing aids down?’.

The final instance happened on Thursday, August 3, where during a performance by Tomos Boyles a member of staff told members of the audience with hearing aids to "turn the volume of our aids down or take them off" alleging they were "causing an irritating noise nuisance to non hearing aid users." Ms Davies said the member of staff then proceeded to laugh, which she found "embarrassing" "as a person that lives with hearing loss".

She said she found the final instance distressing. "I was so upset. I wasn‘t crying but I was emotionally cross. I was upset. It was humiliating.

"I think the first concert of Theo Williams was £25. Why would hearing impaired punters pay £25 to be told to turn their hearing aids down or off so they can’t hear it? It’s a very mature audience so there would have been a number of hearing-impaired members.

"I spoke to a technician there during the week and mentioned to him about it and I said: ‘Are you aware there are problems with the acoustics in the Great Hall?’ and he said that his view was that it's to do with the underwriting under the extended seating that can be moved in and out. He said it's very unfair to blame hearing aid users for any acoustic interference that might happen."

Following her experience Ms Davies approached Aberystwyth University to raise her concerns that she felt discriminated against and harassed as a result of the instances. After several letters of correspondence back and forth as well as meeting with the chair of the university Ms Davies did not feel they had done enough to remedy her complaints and consulted with a solicitor who advised she would have grounds to submit a disability discrimination claim. In March 2024 Ms Davies received a settlement of £4,000 from Aberystwyth University which she has now donated to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People.

Ms Davies said she was proud she pursued the claim but is wary of returning to the arts centre. She said: "What’s unpleasant for me now is the arts centre is an amazing venue. I haven't been there since the incident because I am afraid of walking in and seeing staff and that will remind me of that unpleasant experience.

"It hasn’t been a pleasant experience. Unless little small people like me fight how are we ever going to make it easier for people with disabilities?" Get the best user experience with WalesOnline’s Premium app on Apple or Android.

A spokesman for Aberystwyth University said: “The university aspires to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for the whole community. We take any complaint of discrimination extremely seriously and conducted a full investigation into the complaint made by Ms Davies.

"A settlement was paid to Ms Davies before any litigation was brought and it recognised the seriousness with which the university takes concerns of this nature. In addition, a full and sincere apology was provided to Ms Davies. We always seek to learn from any such concerns and have ensured that all necessary remedial action has been implemented.”