AV Industry Embraces Auracast™

Sure, everyone here at Listen World HQ is energized about Auri™, and that has spread throughout the assistive listening community.

If you’d like a little backstory on all the fuss, now’s the time to take a quick tour of our Auri™ product info and previous Auracast™ broadcast audio articles.

As we know, Auracast™ enables a transmitter to broadcast audio directly to an unlimited number of receivers.   Auracast™ transmitters can be integrated into televisions, desktop computers, laptops, and smartphones.  But they can also be added to these devices, and virtually any other audio source (including microphones, public address, and sound systems) with the addition of a standalone Auracast™ transmitter – such as we do with Auri™.   Auracast™ enabled receivers can include personal listening and hearing devices, loudspeakers, audio storage, and p.a. systems.  In fact, the technology has the potential to be integrated or retrofitted into any sound source and/or sound destination hardware.

Back to the buzz…

So, yeah, Auracast™ and Auri™ have created quite a stir in our assistive listening lane of the Audio-Visual industry.   Which has, naturally, extended to language interpretation applications as well.  Some Auracast™ enabled hearing aids and cochlear implant processors are currently available, with many more expected in the immediate future.  You can see the opportunity it provides for wider accessibility and inclusion along with an upgraded hearing solution.

But what makes all this excitement so, well, exciting, is the growing adoption of Auracast™ broadcast audio in other segments of the AV industry.

That industry-wide interest is due, in large part, to the efforts of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) which administers and licenses Auracast™ broadcast audio standards and specifications.  Well, the SIG went and created an elegant demonstration of the technology — The Auracast™ Experience — to provide an immersive, in-person, hands-on event, showcasing how Auracast™ will benefit our daily lives.  Then they hit the road on a world tour to bring The Auracast™ Experience to as many interested parties as possible.  Over the last 12+ months, tour stops included:

• The International Consumer Electronics Show (Tech G) Shanghai – a leading international consumer technology show in Asia.
• Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (CEATEC) Tokyo — Japan’s largest IT and electronics exhibition/conference.
• The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Las Vegas – the world’s largest consumer technology show.
• The Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona — the world’s largest and most influential connectivity event.
• InfoComm Las Vegas — the largest professional Audio-Visual trade show in North America.
• Integrate Expo Sydney – Australia’s premier trade show for event technology.
• International Radio Exhibition (IFA) Berlin — Europe’s largest consumer electronics trade show.

Over the course of the global tour, countless thousands of consumers, technology professionals, design engineers, product developers, and consumer and professional AV manufacturers were able to engage with SIG’s Auracast™ experts and participate in The Auracast™ Experience.

Outside of hearing assistance, many leading high-tech brands have already released (as in available now!) Auracast™-enabled products, among them: Samsung, JBL, Sennheiser, Intel, Hisense, Sony, and Qualcomm.  These, and many other companies that make cool stuff, are introducing products even as I type, with more in the works for the near future.   Industry research forecasts 2.5 million Auracast™ broadcast audio locations will be deployed by the end of this decade[1].

Where are these innovations going?   Feedback from The Auracast™ Experience, and word on the AV street, tells us Auracast™ broadcast audio products are planned, or in development, for an array of markets, including home entertainment, public displays, transportation hubs, entertainment venues, education, tourism and attractions, worship, healthcare, lodging and hospitality, public communications, gaming, virtual reality, and even in-car infotainment systems.  And let’s not forget Auracast™ adds multiple language support to all those applications.

Yes, all of us at Listen, and our friends at Ampetronic, are proudly happy dancin’ over the introduction of Auri™.  But we’re not alone, as the AV industry is primed to utilize Auracast™ broadcast audio in other AV spaces.

So, take six minutes and enjoy The Auracast™ Experience yourself.

And now you can see how Auracast™ broadcast audio has the potential to enhance all our lives in so many ways and in so many places.

Man, the Excite-O-Meter is really jumpin’ now!

The Bluetooth^® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. The Auracast™ word mark and logos are trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. Any use of such marks by Listen Technologies Corporation is under license. Other trademarks and trade names are those of their respective owners.

[1] ABI Research, 2024 Bluetooth® Market Update