Position statement on Auracast and telecoils

Summary

EFHOH's call for a balanced approach in which hearing aids and cochlear implants keep telecoils while Auracast is introduced.

Key findings

• Calls on hearing aid and cochlear implant makers to keep telecoils for at least the next decade, and holds that telecoil access to hearing loops is needed in Europe for at least the next 10 to 15 years.
• Reports concern at suggestions that hearing loops and telecoils are no longer needed because Auracast will replace them.
• Reports that experts at a September 2024 EFHOH webinar, held with the hearing loop manufacturers' association IHLMA, said European radio and medical-device rules raise manufacturing costs and slow adoption, and raised concerns about acceptance by older users and about venues lacking the infrastructure.
• Asks audiologists to inform clients about both telecoil and Bluetooth features and to demonstrate both.

Limits

A policy position without data. The webinar experts' views are reported second-hand, and the webinar was held with a loop manufacturers' trade body.

Read the original

efhoh.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/EFHOH-position-statement-on-concerns-about-withdrawal-from-telecoils-FINAL97.pdf

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

Cited in

• Which hearing devices can receive which systems?Open
• Auracast, hearing loop, infrared, RF or Wi-Fi: which suits which room?Disputed
• Will equipment bought today meet the standards that follow?Open
• How many listeners carry a telecoil, an Auracast-capable device or a smartphone?Disputed
• Are telecoils switched on and set up well enough for loops to work?Not reliable yet
• Should a venue keep its hearing loop when it adds Auracast, and can one system serve both?Partly answered
• How do listeners learn that a venue has assistive listening, and which signs and symbols do the rules ask for?Partly answered
• What reaches a cochlear implant user in a venue, and how well?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/efhoh-2024-auracast-telecoils/

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.