In case you missed it at this year’s Future of Hearing Healthcare Conference, Chuck Sabin, the Senior Director of Market Development at Bluetooth SIG, presented an excellent overview of Auracast™ broadcast audio, offering important take-aways for hearing professionals and the patients they serve.
Auracast™ broadcast audio is a new Bluetooth® capability that is set to be the next generation of assistive listening and enhance the way you interact with others, and the word around you, through audio.
In this presentation you will come away with the following:
- A clear understanding of how the new features of Bluetooth® LE Audio enable better support for hearing aids and the use cases for Auracast™ broadcast audio.
- A clear understanding of the impact LE Audio and Auracast™ enhancements will have on improving the opportunity for better hearing health, and
- A clear understanding of how industry collaboration and advocacy will help ensure consistent infrastructure for assistive listening in public spaces.
Want to know more about Auracast™? Visit: https://www.bluetooth.com/auracast/
Full Episode Transcript
Hello.
Welcome to Hearing Health
Matters 2023 and this
presentation on what you
need to
know about Auracast
Broadcast
audio from Bluetooth
Technology.
My name is Chuck Sabin.
I’m the Senior Director for
Market Development at the
Bluetooth Special Interest
Group. And many of you,
through a variety of resources
and presentations,
may have been introduced to
Auracast Broadcast Audio and
may
have seen some of the
materials
I’m about to present.
But it’s always a good idea
to see them again,
especially for a new Bluetooth
capability like Auracast
Broadcast Audio. Now,
we anticipate Auracast to be
the
next generation of assistive
listening technology and
more.
And many products and
manufacturers have
committed to
supporting Auracast as part
of their future technology
portfolio for Bluetooth audio
connectivity, in hearing aids,
everyday consumer audio
devices,
and public spaces. Today,
I want to walk you through a
bit
more detail about Auracast
and
what you may need to know
about how it works,
how it will be used,
and how to identify devices
and
locations with Auracast
Broadcast
Audio in the future.
As far as learning objectives,
I want you to come away with
a
clear understanding about
three things.
First,
I want to give you a clear
understanding of the new
features of LE Audio and how
they enable the use cases for
Auracast Broadcast Audio.
Second,
I want you to have a clear
understanding of the impact
that
LE Audio and Auracast will
have
on Bluetooth hearing aids and
how Auracast is enabling
audio accessibility.
And third,
I want you to come away with
an
appreciation for the
importance
of the user expectations for a
consistent infrastructure and
support for Auracast
in public spaces.
First,
let’s just start off with a
reminder of who we are as
the
Bluetooth Special Interest
Group. Now,
Bluetooth is a globally
recognized standards body
and trade association.
We are the organization at
the
heart of Bluetooth
technology,
supporting industry leading
companies around the globe
in
specification development,
device qualification testing,
and promoting Bluetooth
technology.
We’re based in Kirkland,
Washington,
just outside Seattle in the US.
And the Bluetooth SIG
operates
as a notforprofit trade
association with over 40,000
member companies working
to
advance Bluetooth
technology
in a variety of markets and
solutions. And each year,
Bluetooth member
companies ship
over 5 billion Bluetooth
enabled
products worldwide.
Now,
to the heart of the discussion
for today.
Bluetooth has been leading
innovation in wireless audio
for over 20 years. However.
It has been recognized that
developers have to a degree,
stretched the classic
Bluetooth
audio to its limits. Now,
this is Enter LE Audio,
the new framework and the
new
flexible architecture from
Bluetooth to support the next
20
years of audio innovation
in the market.
And just to be clear,
you’ll see both architectures
for quite some time.
This is not an instance where
you need to throw out your
current devices because they
were suddenly not going to
work
with the new phones, tablets,
PCs and TVs that you might
get in the future.
Classic Audio and LE Audio
will
coexist in the market
for many years,
working with both existing
and
new devices. Now that said,
new wireless audio innovation
will come with LE Audio.
LE Audio will first bring a
number of initial
enhancements
to help relieve some of the
challenges seen in
the market today.
And there are three initial
benefits that you will see
and hear with LE Audio
The first is better performing
products, higher quality,
better performance, lower
power.
And the second is greater
availability of Bluetooth
hearing aids with new
standardization,
increased performance,
and global interoperability
between those devices
and mobile devices,
and broadcast audio.
And the third broadcast
audio.
And the introduction of
Auracast
broadcast audio for public
spaces will be a part of the
new
capabilities with LE Audio.
So let’s take a look at these
benefits in a little
bit more detail.
The new LE Audio
specification
and architecture from
Bluetooth
is really set to enable,
as I mentioned before,
the next 20 years of wireless
audio innovation.
This includes a new modern
codec for all devices,
which helps produce higher
quality audio at lower
power requirements,
enabling devices to have
longer
battery life in one charge.
Second,
a new flexible architecture or
device developers to support
multistream for binaural
hearing
aids, seamless voice control,
and broadcast capabilities.
And third,
there’s new standardization
and
profiles specifically for
hearing aids and public
broadcast.
Now,
regarding standardization and
global availability of
Bluetooth
hearing aids,
it is actually the hearing aid
ecosystem that first
approached
the Bluetooth Special Interest
Group to standardize
Bluetooth
Audio for hearing aids. Now,
the biggest challenges that
were
in the market was that there
was
no specific adopted Bluetooth
specification for hearing aids,
and different hearing aid
suppliers had to develop
proprietary extensions
to the technology.
Now,
this did cause compatibility
problems. In the market,
which many of you may have
or
probably have experienced.
And then you had Apple with
MFI,
the Made for iPhone program,
and you had Google’s ASHA,
which is the audio streaming
for
hearing aids program which
tried
to resolve platform specific
issues but really made it
difficult for true multiplatform
handset interoperability for
hearing aid devices.
And this all drove challenges
into the market,
including interoperability
between hearing aids and
new
mobile devices that people
were
purchasing for their lives.
Now,
this ultimately limited
selection in many of the cases
and drove higher costs to
the end consumer. Now,
the LE Audio specification
is meant to change this
standardization through LE
Audio
and the Hearing Access
Profile
will bring better performance
to your hearing aids.
And standardization will drive
true global interoperability.
And standardization should
deliver more selection choice
and increase the overall
accessibility for people
with hearing loss.
Now,
with regards to accessibility,
now Auracast Broadcast
Audio is a
new capability for Bluetooth
wireless technology that will
deliver new audio experiences
to
help your world sound better.
Now,
when you look at Auracast
and the
Auracast story for the market,
there are three key
experiences
that we’re enabling for
the near future.
The first is share your audio.
Now,
this is me sharing my audio
with
you or the people that are
around me, in this case,
the smartphones, tablets,
laptops will allow you to share
your audio experience
with others,
to listen to music and watch
videos together. Now,
this could also include other
applications like tour systems
and other group listening
experiences where you’re
trying
to share your audio with the
people that are around you.
The second experience is
around.
Unmute your world. Now,
this is providing the
opportunity for an audio
experience with the silent TVs
that you see in bars, gyms,
waiting rooms and airports,
because silent TVs and
monitors,
they’re everywhere.
Simply stated,
Auracast allows you to join
the
audio broadcast of a program
or on a monitor rather than
watching or reading closed
caption in silence to create
a more complete watching
experience. Now,
this can also include
multilanguage support or
listening to audio sources that
provide multiple audio
sources
that provide a simulcast of an
alternate language on that
monitor, on that TV as well.
The third experience is
around hear your best.
And this is supporting audio
accessibility and better
hearing health,
especially for those with
hearing loss or when you just
want to hear better what is
going on around you, like PA,
announcements, lectures,
conversations and so on.
Because overcoming loud
ambient
noise can be a challenge in
public spaces for everyone.
And this is especially true for
people with hearing loss.
Auracast enables direct audio
listening to the public address
systems and other
transmitters
to help you hear your best
using
your listening and
hearing devices.
And this includes augmented
audio experiences at theaters
and assistive listening in
public spaces and locations
like places of worship,
transit centers, airports,
conference centers and other
public gathering places.
Now,
I want to emphasize that
Auracast is an assistive
listening technology,
but it applies to more than
just
enhanced audio and assistive
listening.
It can apply to all manner of
use cases and increase audio
accessibility for everyone
Auracast will increase the
value
of audio to more people
at a location. Now,
because Auracast is designed
to
be implemented on all
manner
of listening devices,
there’s a broad demographic
of
users who can use Auracast.
And because it supports
multiple
channels and multiple
broadcasts,
venues can improve their user
experience with multiple
audio
options at a location
supported
from one technology.
Now, additionally,
one of the challenges of
setting
up a location for audio
assistance is the impact on
the
venue causing somewhat of a
resistance to implementation,
especially for retrofit to
an existing building.
Now,
this can ultimately limit
installation to a single use
case or they find accessibility
support from less accessible,
lower quality alternatives.
But deploying an RF system
like
Auracast with Bluetooth can
be
simple and easy to deploy and
reconfigure to any changes
in the environment.
It’s really similar to deploying
a WiFi network. Essentially,
you affix a transmitter to
the ceiling or the wall,
you plug it into the audio
system and you’re ready to
go.
Auracast supports unlimited
endpoints without the need
to
sit in a specific area to
receive the audio experience
that you want.
Auracast can easily cover a
large
area of inrange devices in a
location inside or outside for
indoor or outdoor locations.
And because it is Bluetooth,
a technology familiar to many
people training and education
may be more easy or maybe
easier to more people.
Now,
let’s talk a little bit more
detail about how forecast
broadcast audio actual.
Works.
And some of the questions
that I hear.
This may be a little bit more
detail in terms of this
diagram,
but I want to show you this
because there are two
questions
that I hear the most during
presentations.
The first is,
does Auracast use the
standard
Bluetooth pairing methods I
use
today for audio? And two,
is the smartphone required to
listen to an oracast broadcast
audio audio stream from
a transmitter?
To answer the first question,
the simple answer is no.
This is not a classic Bluetooth
pairing between two devices.
Broadcast is meant to be
accessible by everyone,
not just you. For broadcast,
a transmitter advertises the
availability of a standard
quality Auracast broadcast
audio stream.
And any Auracast receiver or
assistant can listen for that
broadcast and join based on
the request of the user.
Now,
some broadcasts may be
encrypted
and may require additional
input by the user,
depending on the
implementation.
But at the heart of an
Auricast broadcast,
the transmitter or source has
no
idea what or how many
devices
are listening to the oracast
broadcast audio stream
at any given time.
And this allows one
transmitter
to broadcast effectively to an
unlimited number of people
that
are within range of
that transmitter.
The transmitter broadcasts
audio
everywhere for people to
listen,
and people listen depending
on their desire.
Now, on the second question,
is the smartphone required to
listen to an Auracast
audio stream?
Again,
the simple answer to this
question is no. Once joined,
the receiver,
whether or not it’s the
headphones or earbuds or
hearing
aids or your cochlear
implants,
it listens.
Those listen to a direct audio
stream from the transmitter.
The smartphone is not
involved
in that case. Now, that said,
there are effectively two
common
models for finding and joining
an Auracast audio stream,
and these are with an
assistant
and without an assistant.
Now,
in both cases,
it starts with the transmitter
advertising the availability of
a standard quality or a cast
broadcast audio stream.
And when you have an
assistant
like a smartphone or a key
fob or some other model,
the assistant scans for
available broadcasts and
provides the interface for the
user to choose which
broadcast
to join. Now,
once the broadcast is selected
by the user,
the assistant directs the
receiver on where to go,
and the receiver joins the
broadcast directly.
And we anticipate that this
will
be the most common method
for
users to join, find and join.
Broadcast very similar to
discovering an available
WiFi access point.
The second model is without
an assistant. Now,
the process is very similar
in this case
where you have the
receiver itself,
scans for available broadcasts
and provides the mechanism
on
the device, the button,
the Swipe,
the switch to join the
broadcast. Again,
no smartphone or assistant is
required at that point in time.
Kind of like how you may turn
on
a telecoil today. However,
when we think about using
devices for devices that are
size and resource constrained,
or when multiple streams
are available,
this may not be the most
practical method for the user.
And this is why we say with
an
assistant may be the most
common
method to find and
join a broadcast.
But the choice to support an
assistant or not is up to the
manufacturer of the
receiving device.
Now,
there are additional methods
for
discovery that are
under discussion.
Things like using proximity
am I near a transmitter?
And I connect to it using
QR codes or NFC.
And that may also be used by
developers in the future.
But these are still under
development and will come
out
as the maturity of Auracast
continues.
Now,
I’ve said it a couple of times
that audio accessibility
should be for everyone.
So why is this important?
Why the emphasis on an
Auracast
standard for public spaces?
Why the emphasis on
standard
quality public broadcast
audio?
And that’s because hearing
health for everyone matters,
right?
Standard quality audio stream
is the universal and common
denominator for accessibility
of
Auracast for all transmitting
and receiving devices,
regardless if it’s TWS,
earbuds headsets,
headphones,
hearing aids, cochlear,
ear implants, and so on.
And it is also required for all
Auracast locations to support
the broadcast of a standard
quality audio stream. Now,
I tell you this because
advocating for transmitters
for
oracast transmitters at
locations that support the
Auracast requirements
ensures
that a broadcast support and
audio accessibility is available
for all users at all locations,
for all devices.
And that’s effectively what
we’re trying to get to
effectively in this case.
Global audio accessibility
hinges on devices and
location
following the Auracast
requirements.
And your advocacy and your
emphasis is important.
Driving global audio
accessibility.
Now,
how do you know a device or
a
location supports Auracast?
Or says it supports Auracast.
There are two paths to
identify
support for oracast
broadcast audio.
First is on the device,
and the second is at the
location. First,
let’s start with the device s
mid 2022,
we introduced the Auracast
brand and trademarks,
including the word mark,
combination mark, figure
mark,
and functionality icon for
device manufacturers. Now,
similar to the Core Bluetooth
trademarks,
any device is eligible to use
the Auracast trademarks as
long
as qualified and proven to
follow the Auracast brand
requirements.
The Auracast word mark and
associated trademarks can
coexist with the Core
Bluetooth
trademarks as depicted in the
product pictures on this slide.
These are just pictures and
should not be construed as
actual product support just
yet.
So just take it as an example
of
what you will see in the
market.
But for bovolt’s device
manufacturers and locations,
we are encouraging them to
use
the Auracast trademarks to
convey
support for oracast to
consumers
looking for devices.
Next,
let’s look at public locations.
For locations,
we’ve introduced a new
stylized
identity for use in
public spaces,
and we felt that the Oracast
trademark needed to stand
out
further for simple consumer
recognition and easy spotting
of
support in public spaces. Now,
different from the Auracast
combination mark I just
showed you before,
the new stylized identity is
designed to depict support
for
assistive listening and
support
for new enhanced or
augmented
audio experiences in that
location where you may go.
And we’re encouraging
prominent
display of this identity to
quickly convey to consumers
they
have access to these new
audio
capabilities at this location.
And we’re also working with
accessibility service providers
to ensure that they have
ample
opportunity to support,
installers and installations
with Oracast branding
materials
and oracast location
registrations.
Now, I’m often asked,
and you may be asking this
yourselves, and I’m often
asked,
well, what about telecoil?
What about loop systems that
are
already in these locations?
And we recognize that
telecoils
are available in many
hearing aids today.
And we also recognize,
through tremendous
advocacy by
a number of organizations,
that hearing loop is deployed
in
many locations today as well.
But Auracast and hearing
loop can.
And will coexist in the same
location for many years to
come.
Now,
it’s important to
accommodate
existing and new
technologies.
We get that.
So together they actually
match
the needs of the devices
that the users have,
whether or not you’re looking
at
current technology or you’re
looking at new technology.
So in this case,
we recommend locations
would use
both the Auracast and
hearing
loop signage to signal the
availability of both systems at
the location. And then users,
depending on their
hearing device,
the capabilities that they
have or their preference,
can choose which capability
best
fits their need for that
particular location.
Now that said, again,
as you can imagine,
developing and delivering a
new
consumer audio capability
like
Auracast for both consumer
applications as well as for
assistive listening technology
is a monumental effort.
And I want to reinforce with
you
that this is a global and
ecosystem wide effort to
deliver
Auracast into the market.
The Bluetooth Special Interest
group is not acting alone.
The Bluetooth Special Interest
Group has brought together
key
product and hearing access
stakeholders in the consumer
and
professional audio ecosystem.
The objective has been to
align
the audio industry and
ecosystem
of suppliers,
manufacturers and
associations
on the scope of experiences
covered by Auracast,
the global brand and identity
of those experiences,
and the product and location
requirements that I’ve talked
about earlier. Now,
this graphic only shows some
of the many companies and
organizations who have
supported
and participated in this
development effort and many
more
have already pledged their
support for Auricast in
devices
they will and services that
they
will offer in the future.
Now,
as much as I would like to
snap
my fingers and have global
support for Auracast
everywhere
in all public locations,
this is not going to happen
overnight, right?
And time in this case is not
weighed in just months.
It will take sometimes years
even to really get the market
fully integrated.
But I am encouraged by what
I
see happening in the market.
Analyst estimates the uptake
and
opportunity for LE Audio and
the
use cases for Auracast
broadcast
audio is quite significant.
In a recent published market
research note in partnership
with Abi Research,
Abi estimates that estimates
that there will be over 3
billion Le Audio enabled
devices
shipping each year within
the next five years.
And Abi also estimates that
there are over 61 million
establishments, locations,
venues globally that could
benefit from and take
advantage
of Auracast broadcast audio.
Today.
And while it’s still early
to track trends,
abi estimates roughly 2.5
million Auracast broadcast
audio
deployments and locations
will
be available in the next five
to seven years. So, again,
as I said,
it will take years to get the
full deployment of Auracast,
so for many details.
For more details on these and
other estimates, you know,
please download and review
the
recent LE audio Market
Research Note.
It’s titled Eliodio the Future
of Bluetooth Audio
on Bluetooth.com.
And if you’re still curious and
want more information on
Auracast or wish to stay up to
date on new information,
I encourage you to visit
Bluetooth.com auricast. Now,
I’ve shown a number of
resources
throughout this presentation,
and everyone has access to
the
content I have presented,
and I encourage you to visit
Bluetooth.com/Auracast for
additional links and
information
I did not cover here today.
So I want to thank you for
your
attention and taking your
time with me today.
And if you have any
questions,
please do not hesitate
to reach out.
I’m an advocate for audio
accessibility,
and I’m committed to doing
what
it takes to help make this
happen for everyone.
I want to thank you
for your time,
and I hope you’ve enjoyed
this presentation,
and I look forward to the day
when auracast and audio
accessibility is everywhere for
everyone. Thank you very
much.
Appreciate your time. Bye.
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About the Presenter
Chuck Sabin is responsible for market development and research at the Bluetooth SIG and leads a wide range of market research, market planning, and business development initiatives. Working with the Bluetooth SIG executive team, Board of Directors, and member companies, Chuck helps to expose insight, trends, and projections that influence and drive the development of strategic business priorities. A proud member of the Bluetooth SIG team for ten years, Chuck has an extensive background in marketing, product management, planning, and business development for mobile wireless networks, enterprise servers, mobile operating systems, mobile devices, and client software and services
Hi Mr. Sabin,
I enjoyed your presentation about Auracast. I am currently in the market for new hearing aids with the latest technology. The couple I have tried thus far with Bluetooth capability was not much benefit for my particular hearing problem, primarily associated with voice clarity. All voices are very distorted with the best analogy sounding like Donald Duck or from a kazoo.
I believe the Auracast technology might be a big help to me once it is incorporated into hearing aids. However, I would hate to spend many thousands of dollars only to find out that Auracast technology was available in a different brand. Do you know of any manufacturer that is planning to have Auracast in their hearing aids in the near future? I also read that some manufacturers will allow installing it in their devices as an aftermarket. I would really appreciate your thoughts about this. Thank you.
Hello Martin – Sorry to hear about your challenges with distorted hearing. In all honesty, that does not sound like an issue with Bluetooth, but rather an issue with the hearing aid, or the fitting of the hearing aid. I would continue to follow up with your audiologist to ensure you have the right hearing aid, or hearing instrument that meets the demands of your particular hearing loss. With regards to Auracast – all of the major hearing aid manufacturers have been involved in the development of this technology for Bluetooth. Unfortunately, I am not able to provide any pre-announcement information on the product plans for an individual hearing aid company. Cochlear has announced support in their Nucleus * sound processor, but it is not yet activated. We anticipate product announcements later this year across the hearing instrument industry. I would continue to follow up with manufacturers on their announcement plans and support for Auracast. We do believe Bluetooth and Auracast is the future of audio accessibility for personal and public spaces. That said, it will take time or deployments and for products to integrate Auracast into their product cycles. Thank you for attending the presentation. I look forward to the day this new capability is widely available. – Chuck