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Auracast Trial and Concert at the Lincoln Center / NY Philharmonic
March and April 2026 "As I was sitting, I forgot that I was listening to an assistive tech receiver. It felt as though I was very much in the room listening to the music, which is really cool" - Miranda Appelbaum Hoffner, Dir. of Accessibility at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Over two visits a month apart Andrew Bellavia and GN Hearing set it up, checked signal levels throughout the house, tuned it up during a rehearsal, and staged the trial for about 30 invited guests co-hosted by the Lincoln Center and GN. Full details coming soon in Hearing Health & Technology Matters
Auracast Helps Break Barriers for Those With Hearing Loss
Chicago Tribune, January 2026 Andrew Bellavia served as the primary source for a front-page article in the Chicago Tribune, the region's largest newspaper, published on January 24th. Well-researched and written by Lisa Schencker, it covers the rollout in venues across the Chicago metro area and describes the benefits to people with hearing loss and beyond.
Direct-To-Ear Audio Streaming Can Improve Accessibility and Well-Being
Hearing Review, January 2026 Almost from the very beginning Andrew Bellavia recognized that direct streaming audio to his hearing devices improved comprehension and reduced fatigue, both online and in live venues. In this article he shared data to back that up, explained why it is important for hearing care professionals to address streaming as part of improving a person's complete lifestyle, and added a couple of tips for making connections more convenient.
Yes, Auracast is a Valid Assistive Listening System
LinkedIn post, November 2025 There were people and organizations insisting that Auracast cannot be used as the primary assistive listening system, typically citing two reasons: the ADA does not name Auracast as a compliant system, and there is no international standard defining Auracast performance requirements. In this seminal post which affected how others thought and wrote about Auracast thereafter, Andrew Bellavia went directly to the sources to explain why neither argument is valid.
Auracast Trial and Launch at the Marriott Theatre
Launch in November 2025 This Week in Hearing, February 2026 Andrew Bellavia advised and trialed Auracast at the Marriott Theatre, then covered the launch for This Week in Hearing in a podcast that aired in February. The episode includes interviews with production and tech staff, interspersed with end-user feedback caught on camera. Some participants described Auracast as reconnecting them to music and dialogue in ways they had not experienced in years.
EUHA 2025: Intriguing Comments About Auracast by Phonak
This Week in Hearing, October 2025 When Andrew Bellavia asked about Phonak's assistive listening roadmap considering they were not supporting either hearing loops or Auracast, Gareth Griffiths gave a most intriguing response. Link to podcast in the post, skip to 18:29 for the Auracast discussion. Another link illustrating that Phonak doesn't have to choose between systems is also included.
Looking Forward: Auracast Applications Beyond Listening
LinkedIn post, October 2025 Could Auracast serve the Deaf community, or anyone who doesn't want to continuously listen to an Auracast stream in a train station or airport? The idea shown here resulted in an interesting conversation (see comments to post) and eventually, a working prototype first tried at AAA 2026 in April.
How to Successfully Advocate for Auracast™ Broadcast Audio
Bluetooth SIG webinar, September 2025 Andrew Bellavia joined the SIG's Avi Negrin as guest to address key topics including how Auracast improves the listening experience for everyone, strategies for advocating for the adoption of Auracast, and key resources available to support advocacy efforts.
Experiencing Auracast™ broadcasts at the Sydney Opera House
Bluetooth SIG blog, June 2025 Looking through the lens of a life-long music lover in his 7th year of wearing hearing aids, Andrew Bellavia described the Sydney Opera house Auracast launch in terms of replicating as closely as possible the sound quality and ambience perceived by normal-hearing people in a live venue.
“Auracast is Here!” Now What?
Hearing Tracker, April 2025 Andrew Bellavia hosted audiologist and assistive listening advocate Juliëtte Sterkens to experience Auracast at his church, the world's first installation in a house of worship, in operation since December 2024. As a result, Juliëtte wrote this article for Hearing Tracker.
Auracast Launch at the Sydney Opera House
This Week in Hearing, March 2025 At the invitation of GN Hearing, Andrew Bellavia traveled to Australia to cover the Auracast launch at the iconic Sydney Opera House. In this episode Andrew interviewed key people from the Opera House, GN, Google, and the National Acoustic Labs.
Advocacy Example
City Recital Hall, March 2025 When advocating for Auracast in a public venue, immediate results are not to be expected. In this case Andrew Bellavia met the Recital Hall's Tech Manager Ed Nixon as arranged by Brendan Lonergan of Hearing Maters Australia. Andrew led Ed through how Auracast works and how it can benefit everyone. This was days before the Sydney Opera House launch. One thing led to another, and in September the Recital Hall announced their own installation.
Auracast: The Wait is Over
Hearing Matters Australia, February 2025 Rarely had I written a piece that became obsolete so quickly after hitting the send button as this one. With flight to Australia in-hand, I had to let it go before the Auracast launch at the Sydney Opera House had become public. Hence the Mattie Stepanek quote, the relevancy of which would become obvious soon after.
Auracast: Leave No User Behind While Streamlining the Experience
AudioXpress, December 2024 Auracast aims to fulfill numerous use cases. These can be divided into two broad categories, assistive listening and mainstream audio experiences. Each has its own history and set of expectations. Failure to address user needs or streamline access threatens to impede adoption if not create active resistance. This will be true across the board but especially in the assistive listening case.
Auracast at the Lincoln Center
Article, November 2024 In November 2024 GN Hearing staged the first-ever Auracast trial at a live concert, and Andrew Bellavia was invited to participate. As a result , Andrew progressed from educating on what this coming thing was to advocating for the ways Auracast can actually improve experiences for everyone.
Coda: What Was That Latency?
Article, November 2024 With people concerned that Auracast latency is too high to be useful, Andrew Bellavia used real data to explain why the Lincoln Center trial sounded so good.
The Future of Hearing Assistive Technology: LE Audio and Auracast™
Hearing Matters Australia, August 2024 As hearing technology continues to evolve, new innovations are revolutionizing how people with hearing loss connect to the world around them. Two emerging technologies, LE Audio and Auracast™, promise to dramatically improve audio streaming and accessibility for hearing aid users and the broader public. This article explored how these advancements are shaping the future of hearing healthcare.
20Q: Auracast is Here - What You Need to Know
Audiology Online, July 8, 2024 Rated 5 stars with over 2,000 reviews, this course provided an overview of the history of Bluetooth and its shortcomings in the hearing space, leading up to Bluetooth LE Audio and Auracast, and outlined the fundamental changes that these new updates to Bluetooth will usher in. The course highlighted many important details, such as the timeline of the roll out, the types of use cases that Auracast will enable, and why these updates will help to alleviate the current clinician and patient frustrations with Bluetooth.
LE Audio and Auracast™: Taking Audio Accessibility to the Next Level
ACAud conference & Future of Hearing Healthcare virtual conference, May 2024 Originally presented by Andrew Bellavia at the 2024 Australian College of Audiology conference on May 9th, this session delves into the transformative impact of LE Audio & Auracast on everyday listening experiences, enabling people to hear their best in various situations. Includes a live Auracast demo and a live PC connection experience.
Andy's Sports Bar
Hearing Moment With Andy, January 2024 Welcome to Andy's newly renovated sports bar, now with Auracast™. The promise of Auracast is that because it's a standard, devices from different manufacturers should all play well together. Let's find out if that's really true.
Auracast Demo: Accessibility & Audio Sharing LIVE from EUHA 2023
EUHA, October 2023 Recorded live & published on This Week in Hearing, Andrew Bellavia shares his experience demoing the new Auracast™ broadcast audio technology at the 2023 EUHA congress in Nuremberg, Germany. He visits the Bluetooth SIG booth to learn how Auracast™ enables audio sharing and accessibility in public spaces and has the opportunity to participate in a demo where he listens to different TVs and gate announcements in an airport scenario. He then stops by the GN booth to see their implementation of Auracast™ in company's latest ReSound Nexia hearing aids, allowing direct streaming from a Bluetooth® LE Audio enabled Windows PC.
Auracast™: When Designing For Everyone is Designing For Accessibility
VCCA Computational Audiology, June 2023 A brisk 10-min discussion on the value that LE Audio & Auracast will bring to people with hearing loss while making it easier for hearing care profesionals to support connectivity.