Auracast™ Broadcast Audio Astounds
Industry Enthusiasts at IFA 2024

Unmuting Silent TVs at an Airport Sports Bar

The Aurcast™ Experience at IFA began with a hands-on demonstration of Auracast™ broadcast audio in an airport sports bar. Imagine arriving early at the airport and deciding to go to the sports bar in the terminal to watch a game. As is often the case, the bar had multiple TVs showing different games, and the sound was turned off on all of them – participants could watch the game, but they couldn’t hear it.

With Auracast™ broadcast audio, visitors had a chance to experience unmuting the TVs in the sports bar. Attendees were able to choose between two different TVs broadcasting different games. The first TV, an Auracast™ TV from Hisense, broadcasted audio directly to the listener’s earbuds. The second TV was a legacy model equipped with an Auracast™ streamer from Resound (currently available). With the Resound TV Streamer+, participants could seamlessly tune into the audio from the second TV as well.

This experience is not limited to sports bars. Silent TVs in hospital waiting rooms, gymnasiums, trains, and more are all ideal spaces where Auracast^™ broadcast audio can enhance the watching experience. And while TV manufacturers continue to work on adding Auracast™ broadcast audio to their TVs,  streamers like the Resound TV Streamer+ can turn an existing TV into an Auracast™ transmitter, even while we wait for native support in TVs.

Sharing Audio and Receiving Announcements at the Airport Gate

At the airport gate demonstrations, visitors got to participate in two Auracast™ experiences: sharing audio from a laptop and phone and hearing gate announcements broadcasted to their earbuds.

First, while waiting in the airport lounge, attendees were invited to watch a movie together on a friend’s laptop or listen to music on another friend’s phone. For this personal audio-sharing scenario, only those with the necessary passwords were able to listen in (much in the same way we experience accessing public Wi-Fi networks or personal Wi-Fi hotspots) – ensuring privacy while allowing more people to enjoy the same audio at once, each on their own earbuds. Visitors could even effortlessly switch audio between the two devices without any delay in audio reception or clarity.

The laptop and smartphone used in this demonstration included the capability to broadcast an Auracast™ signal, but, like the second TV in the airport sports bar demo, Auracast™ dongles can be plugged into existing laptops, tablets, and smartphones to transform them into Auracast™ transmitters. Similar devices are even being developed for commercial sound systems so public venues can potentially turn their location into an Auracast™ location using an existing sound system. 

Second, thanks to the inclusion of an Ampetronic Auracast™ transmitter (coming soon to market), visitors who opted into the broadcast were able to hear airport announcements directly in their earbuds, even while enjoying movies or music. This much-needed advancement alleviates the worry of missing important flight information. It is even more impactful for hearing-aid users; receiving direct-to-ear audio in noisy public locations can be life changing. In this way, Auracast™ broadcast audio has the potential to be the next generation of assistive listening systems, increasing audio accessibility and helping people with all levels of hearing health to hear their best. 

Hearing Your Best in an Auditorium

Participants then arrived at the lecture hall for the conference. In this simulated scenario, visitors show up a few minutes late and can only find seating at the back of the auditorium where, often, it can be difficult to hear the lecture. However, since this auditorium is set up to support Auracast™ broadcast audio, attendees were able to listen at the optimal volume to suit their needs via the highest audio quality available on their own earbuds, no matter where in the auditorium they were seated.

Lastly, at this point in the tour, attendees had the opportunity to hear the audio from their guide’s microphone in their earbuds. Watching the tour guide speak while hearing that person’s voice via the earbuds, participants heard no perceptible lag or audio delay. Extremely low latency, like what these visitors experienced, is the only way to avoid an echo effect or lip-sync problems.

Those on the tour familiar with loop systems also had an opportunity to see how Auracast™ broadcast audio coexists with and can expand the capability of loop systems. A neck loop plugged into an Auracast™ receiver from Listen Technologies can enable broader deployment and increased availability of assistive listening in public locations, promoting better living through better hearing for everyone. Neck loops can be retrofit options for hearing instrument users, allowing them to experience Auracast™ broadcast audio even if they do not yet have Auracast™ enabled hearing aids.  

Finding an Auracast™ Broadcast

Soon, whenever you visit a venue or location that offers Auracast™ broadcast audio, you will be able to use your smartphone to scan for Auracast™ broadcasts in the building – similar to how public Wi-Fi networks are detected. And now, Google has provided a way for venues and businesses to let visitors know whether Auracast™ broadcast audio is available at their location even before visitors arrive.

Learn more about Auracast™ broadcast audio in public spaces.

For those unable to attend the latest Auracast^™ showcase, check out a complete list of Auracast^™ innovations displayed exclusively at IFA 2024.