85 With increasing urbanisation, the spread of multi-storey buildings and the rising average age of the population, lifts have become essential for everyday mobility. Yet for many deaf, hard-of-hearing and cochlear implant users, using a lift is not a given. In particular, in an emergency, the lack of effective communication can turn a simple breakdown into a situation of severe discomfort and isolation. This awareness led to research conducted by Dario Trabucco, Giovanni Perrucci and Elena Giacomello (Department of Architecture and Arts, IUAV University of Venice) and Marco Costa (Department of Psychology “Renzo Canestrari”, University of Bologna). Published in the journal Buildings in 2024 and 2025, the research was divided into two distinct and complementary phases. The first phase involved the administration of a questionnaire to collect direct data on perceptions of safety, usability and avoidance behaviours. The second experimental phase, carried out in the laboratory, brought people with hearing impairments and normal hearing into an lift car to observe, measure and compare their reactions under normal and emergency conditions. THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: ACCESSIBILITY, YES, BUT NOT FOR EVERYONE Although lift regulations have made progress on the issue of accessibility, there are still significant grey areas, especially for certain disabilities. Issues such as claustrophobia, multiple disabilities and the condition of people with hearing impairments in the event of entrapment are not adequately addressed. Current alarm systems, based almost exclusively on voice communication, do not allow deaf or hard-of-hearing people to communicate with the outside world, effectively rendering the emergency procedure ineffective for a significant proportion of users. Although the most recent standards introduce visual support signals, these are not sufficient to ensure real and effective communication. Safety and accessibility are closely linked: a lift cannot be considered safe if it is not usable by everyone. Although the standards are being updated, there is still a lack of a solid evidence-based data foundation that represents people's real needs. The issue of emergency communication for people with hearing impairments is not new: in addition to visual alarms, which are already widespread in fire alarm systems, there are haptic vibration devices that signal alerts through touch, voice recognition technologies and solutions such as hearing loops, a system that transmits sound directly to compatible hearing aids or cochlear implants. However, lifts are a means of public transport: it is not possible to know who is using them, what degree of deafness they have, whether they wear a hearing aid or cochlear implant, or whether a stable Internet connection is available. This makes many technologies only valid in specific conditions. The real challenge is to design emergency systems that are effective for everyone, at all times. PHASE 1 – THE NATIONAL QUESTIONNAIRE The first phase of the research was an exploratory survey conducted via questionnaire, distributed throughout Italy via ENS (Ente Nazionale Sordi, National Deaf Association), FIADDA (Famiglie italiane associate per la difesa dei diritti degli audiolesi, Italian Families Associated for the Defence of the Rights of the Hearing Impaired), APIC Torino (Associazione Portatori Impianto Cocleare, Cochlear Implant Association), social networks and university contacts. The language was simplified and accompanied by a video in LIS (Italian Sign Language) produced by ENS Veneto, because the first versions were too complex for many deaf participants. The questionnaire was completed by 287 people with deafness or hearing loss and 218 people with normal hearing (control group). In the group with hearing impairment, 44.57% used hearing aids, 26.66% used cochlear implants, and 28.77% used no aids. 74.44% were deaf from birth and 25.56% had acquired hearing loss. WHAT DEAF PEOPLE TELL US ABOUT THEIR DAILY USE OF LIFTS The results speak for themselves: A STUDY BY THE UNIVERSITIES OF VENICE AND BOLOGNA ANALYSES THE EXPERIENCE OF PEOPLE WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENTS IN LIFTS AND OPENS UP NEW PERSPECTIVES ON DESIGN, SAFETY AND COMMUNICATION IN EMERGENCIES Lifts and hearing impairments: what research teaches us
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