Assistive Listening Knowledge Base
  • Venue guidance page
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Wi-Fi Based Assistive Listening System (beta testing page)

From https://assistivelisteningknowledgebase.org/evidence/chautauqua-wifi-beta-testing/ · record checked 9 October 2026

  • Chautauqua Institution
  • Chautauqua Institution (visitor information page)

Independent (Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit arts and education centre in New York State that runs the Listen Wi-Fi system it describes; the advice draws on its own user feedback)

Summary

A venue's guide for visitors using its Wi-Fi assistive listening system on their own phones at live lectures and performances, including what to do about echo.

Key findings

  • Reports that the venue introduced the system in 2024 after testing, extended it to its amphitheater and several halls and theatres in 2025, and to further venues in 2026; listeners use their own phones with Bluetooth headphones or hearing aids, or wired headphones.
  • Explains an "echo" heard by some listeners as latency, the time difference between the venue's loudspeakers and the Wi-Fi sound reaching the listener's device, and says its user feedback shows the system works best for patrons with moderate to severe hearing loss.
  • To reduce the echo it suggests wired noise-cancelling headphones, and muting the hearing aids' microphones where the hearing aid app allows, which it says blocks or minimises the loudspeaker sound and "eliminates the echo".
  • Advises closing other apps, which it says can add to the latency, and, if the echo grows during a session, pausing and restarting the stream to clear the buffering, which may need repeating on older phones.
  • Notes that Wi-Fi routers can lag and drop the signal for a moment, and points listeners to live captions to catch every word.

Limits

A venue's own guidance with no measurements: the latency is not quantified, and the statements on who benefits and what reduces the echo rest on unpublished user feedback. The page carries no date; it mentions the 2026 season. It covers one system, used through the ListenWifi app, at one venue, and the page's address still calls it beta testing.

Read the original

chq.org/visit/explore-the-grounds-and-gardens/accessibility/wi-fi-based-assistive-listening-system-beta-testing

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Cited in

Cite this source

Chautauqua Institution. Wi-Fi Based Assistive Listening System (beta testing page). Chautauqua Institution (visitor information page). n.d. https://chq.org/visit/explore-the-grounds-and-gardens/accessibility/wi-fi-based-assistive-listening-system-beta-testing (accessed 9 October 2026).

The original gives no date, so the citation says “n.d.”. 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/chautauqua-wifi-beta-testing/

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