Audio plus Live Captions: No Extra Equipment Required

I don’t carry a bag, and there’s only so much room in my pockets.

I’ve used the telecoil in my hearing aids for 56 years. I was slow to start carrying a cell phone because hearing aid compatibility was an issue. That problem has mostly gone away. Now my phone streams audio to my hearing aids.

The church I attend seats about 800 people and is usually standing room only. Recently, my church installed a sound system that is capable of providing Auracast, but it isn’t turned on yet. The church will need to update the system before it can broadcast, and my hearing aids, which are also Auracast capable, will need an update before they can receive it. For now, I use the existing Wi-Fi-based assistive listening system. My phone receives the audio over Wi-Fi and streams it to my hearing aids via Bluetooth. At the same time, my phone also captions the audio received over Wi-Fi, letting me read captions while I listen. Accessing the service in two ways using devices I already carry without needing extra equipment is both valuable and convenient.

One thing that has stood out to me with the Wi-Fi system plus Bluetooth streaming is a delay in the audio I hear. It arrives slightly later than the sound from the room’s speakers, creating an echo. Turning down or muting my hearing aid microphones solves the problem while the streamed audio continues.

Once the church turns on Auracast and my hearing aids are updated to receive it, I expect the audio to go directly to my hearing aids rather than through my phone, potentially eliminating the echo. But will I still be able to read live captions on my phone while listening to the same broadcast through my hearing aids? For that to work, my phone would need to receive the Auracast audio and generate captions while my hearing aids receive and play that audio simultaneously. I don’t know whether this will be possible, but I hope it will.