Special ticket office windows have been installed at Witham railway station to improve communication for the hard of hearing.

The sonic windows, fitted with a loop amplifier to assist hearing-aid wearers, form part of a £330,000 investment from Great Eastern Railway to improve facilities for disabled people.

They enable two-way communication by means of a low voltage sound system placed inside the framework, and have also been installed at Shenfield, Gidea Park and Liverpool Street.

Staff and customers will no longer have to raise their voices to be heard, and the large unrestricted flat screen should make contact more open and friendly.

Great Eastern sales and marketing director Theo Steel said: "Many of our stations were built before facilities for disabled and mobility-impaired people existed and they need bringing up to date."

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