Assistive Listening Knowledge Base

Technology

RF/FM

Questions and sources on dedicated venue receiver systems: FM at 72-76 MHz and 216 MHz, the European assistive listening bands, and proprietary digital RF.

Introduction

Venue RF/FM systems send sound by radio from a transmitter to receivers that listeners borrow and use with earphones or a neckloop; a telecoil user listens through a receiver with a neckloop1,2. FM covers large seating areas easily and works indoors or outdoors, but its signal passes through walls, so a guide calls it unsuited to rooms where privacy matters unless an encrypted digital system is used1,3. Listen Technologies gives ranges of 305 m (1,000 ft) at 72 MHz and up to 914 m (3,000 ft) in line of sight at 216 MHz for its stationary transmitters4. A federal courthouse guide, which gives no metric figure, says FM "Covers up to several hundred feet"3.

In the US, venue FM uses two licence-free bands5,6. One is three sub-bands between 72.0 and 76.0 MHz, where transmitters are restricted to auditory assistance devices5. The other is 216-217 MHz, part of the Low Power Radio Service, which shares the band with health care communications, law enforcement tracking and other uses6. The 2010 ADA Standards define assistive listening systems to include radio frequency equipment and set performance requirements that apply to every system7. In Europe, CEPT's Recommendation 70-03 lists bands that countries may open to assistive listening devices, among them 169 MHz, 173.965-216 MHz and 863-865 MHz, with national rules deciding what is allowed8. The harmonised standard ETSI EN 300 422-4 tests these devices' use of the radio spectrum and sets no performance characteristics for listeners9.

Questions

The questions that report evidence on RF/FM, including the shared ones on codes, receivers, neckloops, telecoils and what listeners prefer (also listed under Shared).

See these questions in the tracker, with its filters

Sources

69 sources in the library report on RF/FM, newest first, with undated web pages last.

  • 7 independent
  • 15 manufacturer
  • 3 standards body
  • 14 nonprofit advocacy
  • 4 trade body
  • 26 government

See these sources in the evidence library, with its filters

Sources of the introduction

  1. Comparison of Large Area Assistive Listening Systems. Compton-Conley C. Hearing Loss Association of America (reprint), 2015. Nonprofit advocacy (reprinted by HLAA with the contact address of its Get in the Hearing Loop program; written by Cynthia Compton-Conley, PhD, of Gallaudet University; who paid for the original is not stated) ↩︎ https://www.hearingloss.org/wp-content/uploads/comparison-of-large-area-assistive-listening-systems.pdf
  2. Coupling Options: Ways to Connect to Assistive Listening System Audio. Kaneb A (credited on the chart). Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), 2026. Nonprofit advocacy (Hearing Loss Association of America, a US consumer organisation for people with hearing loss; the chart is credited to Andrea Kaneb and names no funder) ↩︎ https://www.hearingloss.org/wp-content/uploads/documents/advocacy-resources/hlaa-coupling-options-als-chart.pdf
  3. Justice for All: Designing Accessible Courthouses (recommendations from the Courthouse Access Advisory Committee). Courthouse Access Advisory Committee. US Access Board, 15 November 2006. Government (US Access Board federal advisory committee of 35 members, among them the Hearing Loss Association of America, courts, architects, code bodies and disability groups) ↩︎ https://www.access-board.gov/ada/additional-resources/designing-accessible-courthouses.html
  4. Should I Use 72 MHz or 216 MHz?. Listen Team (Listen Technologies). Listen Technologies (blog), 24 February 2010. Manufacturer (Listen Technologies, which sells the FM systems compared here as well as infrared, hearing loop, Wi-Fi and Auracast assistive listening products) ↩︎ https://www.listentech.com/should-i-use-72-mhz-or-216-mhz/
  5. 47 CFR 15.237: operation in the bands 72.0-73.0 MHz, 74.6-74.8 MHz and 75.2-76.0 MHz. US Federal Communications Commission. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR), 11 June 2013. Government (US Federal Communications Commission) ↩︎ https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/section-15.237
  6. 47 CFR Part 95, Subpart G: Low Power Radio Service (216-217 MHz). US Federal Communications Commission. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR), 10 February 2026. Government (US Federal Communications Commission) ↩︎ https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/part-95/subpart-G
  7. 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/
  8. ERC Recommendation 70-03 relating to the use of Short Range Devices (SRD), Annex 10: radio microphone applications including assistive listening devices. CEPT Electronic Communications Committee (ECC). European Communications Office (ECO Documentation Database), 5 June 2026. Government (CEPT, the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations, whose Electronic Communications Committee brings together national spectrum regulators) ↩︎ https://docdb.cept.org/document/845
  9. ETSI EN 300 422-4 V2.1.1: Wireless Microphones; Audio PMSE up to 3 GHz; Part 4: Assistive Listening Devices including personal sound amplifiers and inductive systems up to 3 GHz. ETSI Technical Committee ERM. European Telecommunications Standards Institute, May 2017. Standards body (ETSI; a harmonised standard under the EU Radio Equipment Directive 2014/53/EU) ↩︎ https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_en/300400_300499/30042204/02.01.01_60/en_30042204v020101p.pdf

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