Norway

The situation for hard of hearing persons in Norway – December 2022.

No churches in Norway have any dedicated activities for hard of hearing church members. A great number of parish churches have, however, well functioning loudspeaker and/or induction loop systems and St. John the Baptist’s Cathedral Church of the Nordic Catholic Church in Oslo is the first Norwegian church to have the T-Sign induction loop monitoring technology compliant with the newest EU standard.

No nation-wide church body is member of the IVSS-Churchear. Only one Lutheran diocese, the diocese of Tunsberg, was a corporate member from 1994 until 2020. For periods they even commisioned pastors or deacons focus on the situation for hard of hearing.

The Nordic Catholic Church,  although not an IVSS Churchear member, has commisioned a priest to have a special focus on the hard of hearing situation. It is also one of our partners in the Erasmus+ programme.

The Church of Norway (Lutheran) has, however, dedicated parishes for sign language users, organised as a separate, nation-wide deanery.