Summary
A video tour and interview in which the maker that installed Auracast transmitters at Bristol Temple Meads station describes the installation, the station's existing loops, reactions from users and what still needs work.
Key findings
- Says the station, a Grade I listed building, had assistive listening only as induction loops for one-to-one conversation at the reception counters and some help points, with no large-area system for public address announcements, because loop cable is hard to integrate into the listed building.
- Describes transmitters in the ticket hall, on platform 3, three in the subway and several along the curved platforms 9 to 11 (well over 200 m), placed from a site survey and the maker's propagation simulation, powered over Ethernet, and checked with received signal strength readings from the maker's own receivers; the interviewee says two transmitters covered a stretch of platform that a loop would need about four amplifiers and much cable to cover.
- The trial was installed in July 2025 for the summer and, the interviewee says, was kept in place at the request of Connected Places Catapult because stakeholders received it well.
- Says RNID ran formal research including digit triplet testing, in which "the majority of the participants showed a measurable intelligibility gain" through Auracast compared with the public address alone; no figures are given.
- Says stakeholders at the trial's experience days named NFC tap-on "far and away the preferred method" to join a broadcast in transport, because passengers already tap on to pay fares; QR codes had been the first joining method considered.
- The programme's host says issues remain, such as all receiving devices switching seamlessly between transmitters while walking and a priority system for listening to other audio between announcements; the interviewee says the standard needs further development for transport.
- The interviewee expects a hybrid of both technologies for the next few years, saying telecoil users are likely to find a loop the simplest option at ticket windows and Auracast the option for moving around the station.
- Says that in the Grade I listed station "it's almost impossible for us to, to do any of that invasive engineering" that loops would need.
Limits
The maker describing its own installation; the coverage claims, the loop comparison and the cost remarks come with no published measurements. The RNID testing described was not found in RNID's published report on its March 2026 test, which describes a qualitative concept test with ten participants. A transcript of a recorded video conversation.
Read the original
hearinghealthmatters.org/thisweek/2025/hearing-accessibility-auracast
Cited in
- What works for announcements and ticket counters on buses, trains, stations and airports?Partly answered
Cite this source
Hoskin J (Ampetronic). Auracast in Action: Exploring Hearing Accessibility in a Busy Railway Station (This Week in Hearing). Hearing Health & Technology Matters. 17 December 2025. https://hearinghealthmatters.org/thisweek/2025/hearing-accessibility-auracast/ (accessed 9 October 2026).
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