Listeners with either hearing loss or perceptual problems require a good speech‐to‐noise ratio and short reverberation for their best speech discrimination. These conditions are sometimes difficult to achieve. Assistive listening systems, in which signal is transmitted by infrared light (IR) or modulated ratio waves (FM) are promoted for the special listeners. We compared the effectiveness of assistive systems in a classroom and in a large auditorium with several groups of listeners: normal hearing, hearing impaired, hearing aid users, elderly, and nonnative. In both rooms, the IR and FM systems allowed for better speech perception scores than through loudspeakers. The difference between the two assistive systems was very small. While all groups performed better through the assistive listening systems, the groups who achieved the greatest advantage had the poorest performance in the sound field. Since both systems were equally effective in improving speech intelligibility in less than optimal listening conditions, selection of a system should be based on such factors as cost, maintenance, and expected interferences. [Work supported by NIH.]