LETTER: Cellphone bans at concerts can inconvenience the hearing impaired
I realize this is not the most pressing issue of the day, but I thought I’d chime in on what appears to be a growing trend of entertainers — such as Dave Chappelle and Bruno Mars — not allowing cellphones to be brought into their performance venues.
I understand and sympathize with the goal of discouraging the use of phones during performances. But it is a fact that today’s smartphones do much more than make calls, take photos and shoot videos.
Example: I’m hard of hearing, and I need to use a phone app that comes with my hearing aids to configure my devices for optimum sound when I’m in a noisy arena, auditorium or concert hall. Otherwise, I will not be able to hear sound properly relative to where I am seated.
Perhaps a policy could be implemented that would allow folks in my situation to use their apps to “tune” their hearing aids after admission to the performance venues and then give their phones to attendants to keep until after the performance is over.