Assistive Listening System: Instructions for Audience Members

Summary

An 11-page guide from Dublin's Abbey Theatre to the new Wi-Fi assistive listening system in its auditorium: what to bring, how to join and what to do when the app stops.

Key findings

• Introduces Sennheiser MobileConnect as the theatre's new assistive listening system, streaming over Wi-Fi to the audience's own phones, and asks for feedback because the system is new.
• Asks audience members to bring their own headphones, saying wired ones work best but Bluetooth also works, and lends a limited number of headphones from the box office against a refundable deposit.
• Says the app works with hearing aids and cochlear implants over Bluetooth, and tells people whose hearing aids lack Bluetooth to remove them when using the app; it does not mention neckloops or telecoils.
• Listeners join a dedicated, password-protected network for the system. The guide advises turning off the phone's automatic switching to the best Wi-Fi network, because the phone could change network during the show and the app would stop working.
• Advises against keeping the phone in a pocket or bag, saying this may affect the app, and tells listeners whose app stops during the show to reopen it and reselect the channel. Owners of older devices are pointed to another version of the app.
• Directs patrons who need help with the system to the box office or a member of staff.

Limits

A venue's instructions, with no figures on use or reliability. The guide carries no printed date; the month comes from the PDF's creation date (3 April 2025) and the upload folder. It names the network and password, which are not repeated here.

Read the original

www.abbeytheatre.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Assistive-Listening-Manual-2025-2.pdf

Link checked 9 October 2026. We link to the original and do not host copies.

Cited in

• What does Wi-Fi streaming need from the venue's network and from listeners' phones?Partly answered
• What works in theatres and cinemas, and what do the rules ask of them?Partly answered

Cite this source

The accessed date is when this library last checked the link; use the date you read it. To point readers to this summary instead, link to https://assistivelisteningknowledgebase.org/evidence/abbey-theatre-2025-assistive-listening/

Every finding here cites its source, and who funded each source is labelled. This site does not recommend products. Found an error or a missing study? Suggest a correction.