Assistive Listening Knowledge Base
  • Regulatory report (working group findings for the Transport Standards)

Hearing Augmentation Working Group – Research Paper

From https://assistivelisteningknowledgebase.org/evidence/australia-2025-hearing-augmentation-paper/ · record checked 9 October 2026

  • Hearing Augmentation Working Group (chaired by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts)
  • Australian Government Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts

Government (Australian Government; the working group was chaired by the federal transport department, and its members were Deafness Forum Australia, Guide Dogs Australia, five state transport departments and authorities, and the Bus Industry Confederation)

Summary

Findings of a working group set up during the reform of Australia's Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport on current and emerging hearing augmentation, including how to move from hearing loops to Bluetooth broadcast systems such as Auracast.

Key findings

  • Finds the telecoil the most common hearing augmentation technology today and effective when used and maintained correctly, and says loops should be tested for electromagnetic interference before deployment and maintained every 6 to 12 months.
  • Reports members' view that Bluetooth broadcast systems may be cheaper and easier to retrofit than hearing loops, because a loop may require renovating a building while installing transmitters may be less disruptive; it describes these systems as still in early development and trials.
  • Encourages operators to trial new technologies with users and, if appropriate, to install them "in tandem with induction loop hearing augmentation systems".
  • Says infrastructure for telecoils must continue to be maintained while the telecoil appears to be phased out of new hearing aids, that the rollout of new technology "will take some time", and that operators may need both loops and newer systems available at the same time; it notes that this matches EFHOH's position.
  • Says designers can add emerging technology through the Transport Standards' equivalent access provisions, and that no equivalent access process would be needed where new technology is installed in addition to existing loops that meet the Standards.
  • Asks that signage show which systems are available where Auracast is deployed, with instructions for passengers.
  • Recommendation 8 asks to "maintain infrastructure for older assistive listening systems while newer technologies are gradually integrated".

Limits

Findings and recommendations for the government to consider in future reviews of the Transport Standards, not requirements; public transport only. It cites no measurements or costs. The department's server did not respond on 9 October 2026, so the paper was read from an archived copy of this URL; the cover says February 2025, while the file's metadata gives a creation date in February 2026.

Read the original

www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/hearing-augmentation-working-group-paper.pdf

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

Cited in

Cite this source

Hearing Augmentation Working Group (chaired by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts). Hearing Augmentation Working Group – Research Paper. Australian Government Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts. February 2025. https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/hearing-augmentation-working-group-paper.pdf (accessed 9 October 2026).

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/australia-2025-hearing-augmentation-paper/

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