THE Brunel Centre has received its first nomination for a Let’s Loop Swindon award after its Boots outlet was praised for its efforts in catering for those with hearing difficulties.

The scheme, launched by campaign group Let’s Loop Swindon, aims to promote local shops and businesses that use a hearing loop system to make the lives of their customers easier.

Those who are selected will be invited to attend an awards ceremony to be held at The Civic Offices on November 18.

Gail Collins, 67, from Park South, who visited the store earlier this month, said: “As a hearing aid wearer, whenever I go shopping I find it difficult to hear what a cashier is saying if there is a lot of background noise in the shop.

“When I went into Boots in the Brunel Centre, I noticed that there were hearing loop signs on several of the tills, which I’d never seen in there before.

“After I had finished my shopping I joined the queue for the tills, but unfortunately the one with the hearing loop wasn’t in use.

“I asked the cashier if I could use the loop and straight away she moved across and opened the till with the loop and I changed the setting on my hearing aids.

“The hearing loop made it so much easier for me to hear what the cashier was saying to me as her voice carried straight into my ears.

“For anyone who has normal hearing, or a hearing aid wearer who has never used the loop setting, it’s just like listening through headphones to someone talking on the radio.

“My visit to Boots turned out to be a really good shopping experience. Well done Boots.”

The hearing loop system allows users to tune their hearing aid to a frequency that picks up the microphones being used by store staff at their checkouts.

Sarah Baddley, the manager at Boots, said: “We take pride in things like the hearing loop.

“Most staff are trained to use it and it gets checked to make sure it’s working.

“We are happy to support the scheme and I hope it will encourage more hearing aid wearers to use the store.”

Let’s Loop Swindon is a community project that was established to improve both awareness and the provision of hearing loops in the town.

To nominate a shop, business or individual for an award, nominators are asked to consider the following questions: ‘Where did you have the best hearing experience in Swindon?’ and ‘Why did you have a good hearing experience in Swindon?’

Email your answers along with details of the nominee to thomas.haworth@swindonadvertiser.co.uk, call 01793 501774 or post your nominations in to The Adver office at 100 Victoria Road, Old Town, SN1 3BE before November 4.