Summary
Two HLAA board members on how venues and listeners should handle the move to Auracast: keep loops and telecoils working, add Auracast alongside, and expect the transition to take years.
Key findings
- Andrea Kaneb writes that hearing device makers must keep offering telecoils and that "venues must keep their hearing loops and other assistive listening systems in working order" during the transition, and that legacy systems such as loops should stay in place so no one is left out.
- Notes that many people upgrade hearing devices only every five to seven years, that houses of worship and municipal buildings upgrade slowly, and that many existing systems will remain in place for years; a new international standard for Auracast is expected by late 2027.
- On cost, says it depends on the room and infrastructure, that in many venues Auracast can be simpler to deploy than a hearing loop, and that early estimates are often higher than for FM or infrared.
- Says a hearing device's own streamer plugged into an Auracast receiver is likely to add latency, and that Auracast avoids the magnetic interference that can affect loops while its behaviour with heavy Wi-Fi or Bluetooth traffic is still to be confirmed in real use.
- In the sidebar, Cheri Perazzoli names the WYO Performing Arts and Education Center in Sheridan, Wyoming, and the Sydney Opera House as venues offering a hearing loop and Auracast side by side, writes that "Coexistence is not duplication", and asks listeners to encourage venues to implement both.
- Calls for large, independent multi-site studies across diverse users.
Limits
Advocacy writing without data or references; the authors are long-standing loop advocates. The date is that of the PDF file; the issue is labelled Fall/Winter 2025.
Read the original
Cited in
- Should a venue keep its hearing loop when it adds Auracast, and can one system serve both?Partly answered
- What works in places of worship, and what do the rules ask of them?Partly answered
Cite this source
Kaneb A; sidebar by Perazzoli C. An Exciting Advancement: Navigating the Transition to Auracast (with the sidebar "Coexisting Assistive Listening Systems: Working Toward Inclusive Hearing Access"). Hearing Life magazine, Fall/Winter 2025 (Hearing Loss Association of America). 15 November 2025. https://www.hearingloss.org/wp-content/uploads/documents/hearing-life-magazine/2025/fall-winter/hl-2025-3-kaneb.pdf (accessed 9 October 2026).
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