What works for announcements and ticket counters on buses, trains, stations and airports?

Why it matters

Passengers rely on announcements and counter conversations for time-critical information, often in noisy stations and moving vehicles. In RNID's 2026 report, funded by the Motability Foundation, a survey of 1,762 deaf people and people with hearing loss found that 47% chose clearer announcements sent directly to hearing devices as an improvement, and in its station test most participants could not understand the announcements without Auracast¹. Counters and cabs add a screen between passenger and staff: Transport for London gives the noise of a moving vehicle and the screen in front of the driver as the reasons every licensed London taxi must have a loop². Counters in general are covered in Can Auracast serve ticket windows, service counters and reception desks?, and running a loop and Auracast together in Should a venue keep its hearing loop when it adds Auracast, and can one system serve both?; this question covers what transport rules require and what has been found in stations, airports and vehicles.

What the evidence shows

What transport rules require

• EU rail. Where a station has manual ticket counters, information desks or customer assistance points, at least one desk must have an induction loop, and a fixed glass screen needs an intercom. On trains, loops must be signed where fitted but are not required; the public address system must reach a speech transmission index (STI-PA) of 0.45 at every seat and wheelchair space³.
• British rail. The code that licensed operators and Network Rail must follow when they build or renew stations repeats the counter requirement. Its guidance, which is not mandatory, places the counter loop at 1100 mm, links all public address systems to loops covering the main public areas, fits loops to help points and lift intercoms, and asks for weekly tests and repair within 48 hours⁴.
• British buses. Since the 2023 accessible information regulations, local buses and coaches must make next-stop and other journey announcements audible to a hearing aid user through an induction loop in the priority seats and wheelchair spaces, with deadlines phased by first-use date through 1 October 2026. Some vehicles with existing information systems that meet the guidance's conditions have until 1 October 2031 to meet the remaining provisions, including the loop requirement. Exemptions include services using vehicles designed for 16 or fewer passengers, qualifying excursions and tours, vehicles first used before 1 January 1973, and demand-responsive transport. The guidance suggests a separate loop for talking with the driver, and the regulations say operators must not require passengers to use a personal electronic device⁵. Separate 2026 guidance for English bus accessibility plans lists Auracast on all vehicles by a set date as an example commitment and does not say whether loops should stay⁶.
• London taxis. Every licensed taxi must have a loop meeting IEC 60118-4, tested at every seat, with the driver's microphone active whenever the vehicle works as a taxi; a taxi that does not follow the guidelines may be refused a licence or have it suspended².
• United States. In the 2025 published edition of the US vehicle rules, buses over 22 feet in multiple-stop fixed-route service must have public address systems; the rail provisions allow equivalent alternatives to public address systems. The rules name no required assistive listening system, and their advisory appendix, originating with the 1991 rule, calls induction loops "the most feasible" listening system for telecoil users while noting that radio systems need a receiver⁷. In stations, information given over a public address system must also be given visually⁸. At airports, airlines must give passengers who identify themselves as needing hearing assistance prompt access to the information given at gates, ticket counters and service desks, without naming a method⁹.
• Canada. Departure, gate and safety announcements in terminals must be made in audio and visual formats, and on-board announcements in either format on request; the regulations name no listening system¹⁰.
• Australia. An installed public address system in stations and vehicles must provide hearing augmentation under a 1992 standard, which the government's 2022 impact statement describes as covering 10% of a vehicle's enclosed area; that statement proposed whole-vehicle coverage, with estimated substantive costs of A$122.6 million plus A$1.6 million administrative costs (real 2021/22 dollars, discounted at 7% over a 20-year implementation and 15-year appraisal period), and judged loan receivers impractical at stations¹¹. The 2026 amendment as made retains the 1992 requirement, adds signs giving the type and coverage of each system, and links lift alarms and audio-equipped ramp-request devices to hearing augmentation; its commencement and transition periods must be checked before treating new provisions as current duties. The accompanying guidelines ask for interference tests before deployment and maintenance every 6 to 12 months¹².
• No rule found mentions Auracast or Bluetooth^{3,4,5,2,7,8,10,12}. Australia's government working group says operators adding new systems such as Auracast alongside loops that meet the standards need no equivalent access process¹³.

What field checks found at counters and help points

• Airport counters. Loops installed in 2015 at 13 information kiosks at Vancouver International Airport were checked in 2022 by the installer, which found that "many of these systems were not in working order or were physically broken"; they were restored the next year and desk staff were trained¹⁴.
• Station help points. In a mystery-shop audit of 147 British stations for the rail regulator, 18 of the 22 auditors who rated the Help Point's loop (81.8%) found it working; one hard-of-hearing auditor had difficulty hearing the operator's reply¹⁵.
• A listed station. At Bristol Temple Meads, the installer of the later Auracast system says loops served only one-to-one conversation at the reception counters and some help points, because loop cable is hard to fit into the listed building¹⁶.
• Counters elsewhere. Volunteers' checks of counter loops outside transport, which also found many off, faulty or unknown to staff, are summarised in Can Auracast serve ticket windows, service counters and reception desks?^17,18.

What was found on vehicles

• A London bus. On a 2016 London Assembly site visit, the committee's chair rode a new Routemaster with two hearing aid users: the loop gave an unpleasant buzz behind the driver's cab, where an electrical cabinet sits, and could be heard only in the priority seats nearest the middle door, not in those across the aisle¹⁹.
• What witnesses said. Action on Hearing Loss told the committee that bus loops are often installed but not working properly, with interference, short range or no signs, and a passenger described "a constant synchronised electronic whine that matches the speed of the bus engine"¹⁹.
• Why vehicles are hard. TfL lists electromagnetic compatibility, interference from vehicle components, vibration, temperature and metal in the structure as complications in taxis², and the 1991 US advisory notes that listening systems may pick up interference from other equipment⁷. A Swiss hearing-loss association names trains and trams among sources that can disrupt telecoil reception, and reports that neckloop users at an outdoor event heard interference from nearby tram overhead lines²⁰.
• A fault no one hears. British bus guidance recommends scheduled loop tests because a fault "may not be apparent to a driver or engineer who does not use a compatible hearing aid"⁵.
• What a listener said. One respondent to RNID's survey said that even when switched to the loop setting, "the noise level still gets to me"¹.

Auracast trials in stations, airports and vehicles

• Bristol Temple Meads, March 2026. In RNID's concept test, included in its Motability Foundation-funded report, ten hearing aid and implant users followed live announcements to catch a train. One had Auracast in their hearing device, two used a loaned Android phone with a receiver dongle, and seven used a loaned neckloop receiver with their telecoil. Participants found announcements clearer with Auracast, valued moving around the platform, and asked for easier joining, signs, an alert before each announcement and coverage tested for dead spots. In a separate July 2025 announcement, Ampetronic, the transmitter maker, said it had commissioned RNID user trials at the station; the sources do not establish whether that commission covered this March 2026 test¹.
• The installer's account of the same station. Ampetronic, the maker, describes transmitters in the ticket hall, on platforms and in the subway, checked with signal-strength readings from its own receivers, and says RNID's digit triplet tests showed a gain for most participants; it publishes no figures. The interview's host lists unresolved issues: devices switching smoothly between transmitters and a way to hear other audio between announcements. The installer says stakeholders named NFC tap-on, like tapping to pay a fare, as the preferred way to join¹⁶.
• Australian airport, buses and light rail. In an Australian government-funded trial conducted by La Trobe University, NEC Australia and Get Skilled Access, 19 user sessions took place at Melbourne Airport, on Melbourne buses and at a Canberra light rail and bus interchange; participants described Auracast announcements as clearer, with less listening effort than they recalled from loops. The report recommends deploying Auracast "alongside, not instead of" existing loops, says it is not "set and forget", and lists device compatibility and joining as areas still to mature; its final report gives no participant total or coverage, delay or cost figures²¹.
• Frankfurt Airport, 2026. A two-month trial at two gates, funded by the Hessian government and led by an announcement-system company with a university, planned to measure speech quality by Mean Opinion Score; the cited announcement gives no results²².
• Risks not yet tested. RNID names spoofed announcement streams and congestion from thousands of 2.4 GHz devices in busy transport settings as risks that need practical trials²³.
• Counters. No source found tests Auracast at a transport counter. The Center for Hearing Access lists service counters as "yet to be solved" for Auracast and public transport as in development²⁴, and RNID finds that at a reception desk a maintained loop gives people without a smartphone a simpler experience than an encrypted Auracast stream²³.

What listeners and advocates ask for

• Both systems, for now. RNID's transport report asks for announcements made accessible "through technologies such as hearing loops, Auracast and, where possible, BSL translation"¹. Australia's working group, which includes Deafness Forum Australia, encourages operators to install new systems "in tandem with induction loop hearing augmentation systems" and to keep maintaining loops¹³.
• Signs and staff. Participants in the Bristol test asked for signs and website information¹. Action on Hearing Loss told the London committee that loops need to be advertised and understood by staff, and the committee asked for loop signs inside buses, showing where the loop works best, and outside, showing whether a bus has one¹⁹.
• Beyond hearing devices. In the Australian trials, benefits were also observed among people who are blind, have low vision or are neurodivergent²¹.

Why operators choose one system or another

These reasons come from regulators and suppliers; no source reports what operators bought or why across a network. Australia's 2022 impact statement calls loops a mature technology whose main cost is labour, with overhead wires adding cost at some sites¹¹. Members of the Australian working group say Bluetooth broadcast systems may be cheaper and less disruptive to retrofit than loops¹³. At Bristol, the installer says the listed building made loop cable almost impossible to install, and that a loop covering the same stretch of platform as two transmitters would need about four amplifiers; it expects both systems side by side for the next few years, with a loop likely the simplest option for telecoil users at ticket windows¹⁶.

Where sources disagree

Whether Auracast will be more reliable than loops on buses. English bus guidance says Auracast "could provide a more reliable and personalisable experience" than loops, without evidence⁶, and Australian trial participants described it as clearer than loops they had used²¹. The British bus regulations require a loop and do not mention Auracast⁵, and the Australian trial report and working group recommend Auracast in addition to loops^21,13. The loop problems observed on a London bus¹⁹ and the Auracast impressions²¹ come from different vehicles, years and listeners; no source compares the two on the same vehicle.

Whether passengers' own devices and loaned receivers can carry required information. The British bus regulations say operators must not require passengers to use a personal electronic device, without defining the term, and the guidance says smartphones are not enough⁵. Australia's impact statement judged issuing and collecting receivers impractical in public transport¹¹. In the Bristol test, nine of ten participants listened through a loaned receiver or phone¹.

How much was measured at Bristol. The installer reports measurable intelligibility gains from digit triplet tests run by RNID¹⁶; no RNID publication of those tests was found, and RNID's 2026 report describes a later, qualitative concept test with ten participants and no measurements¹.

How much of a station or vehicle to cover. EU rules require a loop at one or more desks³, British bus rules at the priority seats and wheelchair spaces⁵, and British station guidance across the main public areas⁴. Australia proposed whole-vehicle coverage in 2022¹¹ and kept the 1992 requirement in 2026¹².

What would settle it

Field-strength and background-noise measurements of loops in buses, trains and taxis in service, against the IEC 60118-4 limits that London already applies to taxis², and counts on a stated protocol of how many transport counter, help point and vehicle loops work, rather than a single bus ride, a 22-answer rating or an installer's check^19,15,14. Auracast trials that publish coverage maps, delay, handover between transmitters, time to join and the share of passengers who could connect with their own devices, as the Frankfurt evaluation plans in part^22,21,1, and publication of the digit triplet results described at Bristol¹⁶. Tests of Auracast at a transport counter, which no source reports²⁴, practical tests of spoofing and congestion²³, and guidance from regulators on whether a broadcast to hearing aids counts as a personal device under the British bus rules or as equivalent access under Australia's^5,12.

Planning while it is open

• Check which rule applies to the service: a loop at one or more station desks under the EU and British rail rules, loops at priority seats and wheelchair spaces on covered bus services in Great Britain, subject to the applicable deadlines and exemptions, loops in London taxis, hearing augmentation for public address systems in Australia, US vehicle public address systems and visual equivalents of station announcements, and audio plus visual terminal announcements in Canada^{3,4,5,2,12,7,8,10}.
• Test the site or vehicle for electrical interference before installing a loop, and work with suppliers to keep interference out of the signal^4,5,12.
• Measure a vehicle loop at every seat it is meant to serve, as TfL requires for taxis, rather than at one position^2,19.
• Test loops on a schedule with a loop listener or meter, since drivers and staff who do not use a telecoil may not notice faults; British station guidance suggests weekly tests and repair within 48 hours, and Australian guidelines maintenance every 6 to 12 months^5,4,12.
• Train counter, help point and information desk staff in how the loop works^4,14.
• Sign loops where they work best, inside and outside vehicles, and in Australia state the type and coverage of each system^19,5,12.
• On buses in Great Britain, consider a separate loop for talking with the driver, and do not rely on passengers' smartphones for required information⁵.
• Where Auracast is trialled, add it alongside existing loops, test it with a broad range of receivers, give broadcasts clear names, explain them on signs, add an alert before each announcement, and test coverage for dead spots^21,1,13.
• Plan loan receivers or phones for listeners whose devices lack Auracast, since nine of ten Bristol participants needed one¹.
• Where several transmitters cover one area, check that listeners' devices move between them without losing the announcement¹⁶.

Sources

1. Clear Signals: improving transport accessibility for deaf people and people with hearing loss. RNID. RNID (Royal National Institute for Deaf People), 22 September 2026. Independent (RNID survey and concept test; report funded by the Motability Foundation; Ampetronic, which installed the station's transmitters, announced in July 2025 that it commissioned RNID trials there, but the read sources do not establish whether those are the March 2026 concept test) ↩︎ https://rnid.org.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-influencing/clear-signals-improving-transport-accessibility/
2. Guidelines for Induction Loop Hearing Systems installed in licensed London Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (PHVs) (Vehicle Policy V1). Transport for London, London Taxi and Private Hire. Transport for London (published with its reply to freedom of information request FOI-0992-2122), 26 February 2020. Government (Transport for London, the licensing authority for London taxis and private hire vehicles) ↩︎ https://foi.tfl.gov.uk/FOI-0992-2122/guidelines-for-induction-loop-hearing-systems.pdf
3. Commission Regulation (EU) No 1300/2014 on the technical specifications for interoperability relating to accessibility of the Union's rail system for persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility (PRM TSI), consolidated text of 28 September 2023. European Commission. EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the European Union), 18 November 2014. Government (European Commission) ↩︎ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:02014R1300-20230928
4. Design Standards for Accessible Railway Stations: a joint Code of Practice by the Department for Transport and Transport Scotland (Version 04). Department for Transport; Transport Scotland. GOV.UK, 23 March 2015. Government (UK Department for Transport and Transport Scotland) ↩︎ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/accessible-railway-stations-design-standards
5. Providing accessible information onboard local bus and coach services. Department for Transport. GOV.UK, 26 April 2024. Government (UK Department for Transport) ↩︎ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/providing-accessible-information-onboard-local-bus-and-coach-services/providing-accessible-information-onboard-local-bus-and-coach-services
6. Creating and managing a bus network accessibility plan. Department for Transport. GOV.UK, 28 August 2026. Government (UK Department for Transport) ↩︎ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/creating-and-managing-a-bus-network-accessibility-plan-bus-nap/creating-and-managing-a-bus-network-accessibility-plan
7. 49 CFR Part 38: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility specifications for transportation vehicles. US Department of Transportation. eCFR, 6 September 1991. Government (US Department of Transportation) ↩︎ https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/part-38
8. 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design. US Department of Justice. US Department of Justice (ada.gov), 15 September 2010. Government (US Department of Justice) ↩︎ https://www.ada.gov/law-and-regs/design-standards/2010-stds/
9. 14 CFR 382.53: What information must carriers give individuals with a vision or hearing impairment at airports? (Air Carrier Access Act regulation). US Department of Transportation. eCFR, 18 March 2009. Government (US Department of Transportation) ↩︎ https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/section-382.53
10. Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations (SOR/2019-244). Canadian Transportation Agency. Justice Laws Website (Government of Canada), 25 June 2019. Government (Canadian Transportation Agency, the federal transport regulator) ↩︎ https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2019-244/FullText.html
11. Reforms of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport 2002: Stage 2 Consultation Regulation Impact Statement. Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications (Australia). Australian Government (copy on the Office of Impact Analysis website), March 2022. Government (Australian Government Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications) ↩︎ https://oia.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/posts/2022/04/Stage%202%20Consultation%20Regulation%20Impact%20Statement.pdf
12. Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport Amendment 2026 (F2026L01002), with its explanatory statement and the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport Guidelines 2026. Attorney-General of Australia; Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts. Federal Register of Legislation (Australian Government), 30 July 2026. Government (Australian Government; made by the Attorney-General on 27 July 2026 and registered on 30 July 2026) ↩︎ https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2026L01002/asmade
13. Hearing Augmentation Working Group – Research Paper. 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, February 2025. 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) ↩︎ https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/hearing-augmentation-working-group-paper.pdf
14. Get In the Hearing Loop! Our Impact: Vancouver International Airport. CHHA National (Canadian Hard of Hearing Association). Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, 16 August 2023. Nonprofit advocacy (Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, in its Get in the Hearing Loop series; the check described was made by Advanced Listening Systems, the company that installed and later restored the loops) ↩︎ https://oldsite.chha.ca/?p=7490
15. Accessible Travel Policy Implementation: Review of unbooked assistance and Help Points. Research Institute for Disabled Consumers (RiDC). Office of Rail and Road, May 2022. Government (commissioned by the Office of Rail and Road, Great Britain's rail regulator, from the Research Institute for Disabled Consumers, which ran the audits with its panel of disabled consumers; the report states that it is independent) ↩︎ https://www.orr.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2022-07/accessible-travel-policy-implementation-review-july-2022.pdf
16. Auracast in Action: Exploring Hearing Accessibility in a Busy Railway Station (This Week in Hearing). Hoskin J (Ampetronic). Hearing Health & Technology Matters, 17 December 2025. Manufacturer (Jonathan Hoskin, business development manager in Ampetronic's specialist solutions team, describes the Auracast system Ampetronic installed at Bristol Temple Meads under Connected Places Catapult's Station Innovation programme; published as an editorial episode of Hearing Health & Technology Matters' This Week in Hearing) ↩︎ https://hearinghealthmatters.org/thisweek/2025/hearing-accessibility-auracast/
17. RNID calls for businesses to do better on induction loops. Disability News Service, 23 May 2009. Nonprofit advocacy (reports gathered by campaign volunteers of the UK charity RNID and released for its Deaf Awareness Week campaign; reported by Disability News Service; labelled advocacy rather than an independent test because the reports were gathered for a campaign, with no test protocol described in the news report) ↩︎ https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/rnid-calls-for-businesses-to-do-better-on-induction-loops/
18. Hearing Loops at UHS FT: Audit of Hearing Loops. Dymond HF, for the sensory loss group and Healthwatch Southampton. Healthwatch Southampton (reports library of Healthwatch England), May 2017. Government (Healthwatch Southampton, the city's statutory health and social care watchdog, funded through the local authority; the audit was done by two of its volunteers with hearing loss, as members of University Hospital Southampton's sensory loss group) ↩︎ https://nds.healthwatch.co.uk/sites/default/files/reports_library/20170502_Southampton__Hearing-Loops-at-UHS-FT-Report.pdf
19. Leading the way: Travelling with a sensory impairment in London. London Assembly Transport Committee. Greater London Authority, 18 March 2016. Government (London Assembly, the elected body that scrutinises the Mayor of London and Transport for London) ↩︎ https://www.london.gov.uk/assembly-publications/leading-way-travelling-sensory-impairment-london
20. Auracast practical test outdoors. Pro Audito Schweiz. Pro Audito Schweiz; English reprint by the Center for Hearing Access, 16 September 2026. Independent (Pro Audito Schweiz, Swiss hearing-loss association) ↩︎ https://centerforhearingaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/Pro-Audito-Schweiz-Auracast-practical-test-outdoors.pdf
21. Accelerating the adoption of Auracast: everyone should hear what matters (final report, iMOVE project 6-057 IEP). La Trobe University, NEC Australia and Get Skilled Access. iMOVE Australia Cooperative Research Centre, 4 September 2026. Independent (undertaken by La Trobe University, NEC Australia and Get Skilled Access; funded by the Australian Government through the iMOVE Cooperative Research Centre's Impact Extension Program) ↩︎ https://imoveaustralia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Accelerating-the-adoption-of-Auracast-everyone-should-hear-what-matters-Final-report.pdf
22. Testbetrieb für Gate-Durchsagen direkt ins Ohr am Flughafen Frankfurt gestartet (Trial of gate announcements straight to the ear started at Frankfurt Airport). Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences (Frankfurt UAS news), 30 January 2026. Government (the project 'Barrierefreie digitale Passagieransagen' is funded by the Hessian Ministry for Digitalisation and Innovation with about EUR 245,500 from its Distr@l programme; it is led by Sittig Technologies, a company specialising in automated announcements, together with Frankfurt UAS; Fraport, the airport operator, takes part, and GN, Google, Samsung and the Bluetooth SIG are named as supporting technology companies) ↩︎ https://www.frankfurt-university.de/de/news/n-frankfurt-uas-aktuelles/testbetrieb-fuer-gate-durchsagen-direkt-ins-ohr-am-flughafen-frankfurt-gestartet
23. Auracast: a revolution in audio accessibility (RNID Auracast report). RNID (Royal National Institute for Deaf People). RNID, 11 February 2025. Nonprofit advocacy (RNID, UK charity) ↩︎ https://rnid.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Final-Auracast-Report-110225.pdf
24. Assistive Listening Systems Quick Guide. Center for Hearing Access (reviewed by Juliette Sterkens, AuD). Center for Hearing Access, The John G. Shedd Institute, 29 October 2025. Nonprofit advocacy (Center for Hearing Access, an initiative of The John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts; it states that it accepts no donations from hearing-related vendors) ↩︎ https://centerforhearingaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/Assistive-Listening-Systems-Quick-Guide.pdf

Change log

• 10 October 2026Published with 24 sources.
• 13 October 2026Separated vehicle and station rules and clarified exemptions, costs and trial evidence.
• 13 October 2026Independent audit added bus transition limits, dated the US vehicle text and separated Bristol trial funding.

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