Auracast church broadcast setup

Thanks for your comment, Phoebe.

Yes, the church loudspeaker is pretty loud, and louder than my wife usually runs the TV volume at, which may be why I don’t notice a delay while listening to TV at home. Is it possible the dedicated TV streaming devices have less delay than Auracast?

Oh, and I have fairly good low-frequency hearing. My hearing aids use “double vented bass domes” which allow some sound through, so even when I turn off the hearing aid microphones, I can hear much of the sound of the person speaking.

Hi Steve

Apart from lowering or muting the hearing aid microphones, you can also try:

• Sit farther away from the loudspeakers, and avoid sitting directly under or in front of them.
• Ask your audiologist whether a more closed dome could be tested for church use, if appropriate.
• Use an Auracast receiver with over-ear headphones, which may be the most reliable option in that environment.
• Slightly reduce the PA volume, if possible, to reduce the competing direct sound.

Since this discussion has raised several practical questions about using Auracast in churches, I wanted to share a free educational webinar we are hosting next week.

We will discuss:

• How Auracast differs from a traditional hearing loop

• What churches should consider when planning a system

• How to continue supporting people whose hearing aids do not yet connect directly to Auracast

• Common setup, compatibility and audio-delay questions

There will also be time for live questions. The session is intended to be practical and educational rather than a product presentation.

July 28 at 4:00 PM Pacific Time
July 29 at 9:00 AM in Australia, Sydney Time
Approximately 30 minutes, online via Zoom.

Details and free registration:

Auracast Webinar Series: Next-Gen Personal Hearing4

Join the Auracast Webinar to explore assistive listening, BYOD audio, and next-gen personal listening solutions for churches, clinics, AV teams, and venues.

For transparency, I am with Venucast and will be one of the hosts. Howard Leung, our CPO, will lead the technical and deployment discussion.

Hi Phoebe. Just pointing out that there are multiple time zones in Australia. It’s a big place.

I missed this. Was the webinar recorded? If so, how can it be accessed. I just realized that one of the reasons I stay away from services is that I can't hear discussions, and an Auracast transmitter may be all that is needed.

I looked at the venucast site, and I'm thinking of something very simple - just a transmitter to people who already have Auracast-capable HAs. No assistive devices needed.

Yes, the webinar record will be here next week - https://venucast.com/pages/webinar4

Misconception here. Most hearing aids do NOT accept classic Bluetooth!
Only Phonak/Unitron (Sonova) did it for years, Signia followed recently. All the others either were iOS or ASHA (quasi proprietary).

So, for a broadcast, Classic BT is the complete wrong approach, as it is a 1:1 which you need to set up first ("Pairing").
So there is little interest to have Classic Bluetooth in Avantree etc..

Many thanks to AndrewK for his generous sharing and kind assistance so other churches would be able to set up a similar system in their own church facilities. As of two days ago, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was able to successfully install a simple AVANTREE Audikast transmitter in one of their four chapels in Whatcom County, Bellingham Stake, Washington. The bonus pleasant surprise was that the setup also included bluetooth connecting access for those who’s

hearing aids aren’t auracast capable but are bluetooth capable. They received two donated transmitters which cut the cost of new system.

I haven't found a system that transmits classic blue tooth and auracast at the same time. The ones I've seen give you a choice to set up one or the other, but not both. Also, as has been said here, classic Blue Tooth is a 1:1 system in which the listener must pair his/her receiver (hearing aid, headphone ear buds) to the transmitter. Even then most systems I've come across only allow a limited number of receivers to be paired to the transmitter (usually only 2). Many older headphones receive bluetooth, but must be paired. In the past only Sonova hearing aids could receive classic BlueTooth, so the "audience" who could benefit from a bluetooth broadcast is very limited. Telecoil used to be the way to reach a meaningful number of people, but now that is changing to Auracast which can reach more people, more easily and and at a much lower installation, set up and maintenance cost to implement.