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What Is Auracast? The Future of Bluetooth Audio for Hearing Aids · Starkey Sound Bites: Hearing Aids, Tinnitus, and Hearing Healthcare

• 0:00
  Dr. Dave Fabry: Here's your fresh Sound Bites snack.
• 0:01
  Dr. Dave Fabry: Let's dive in.
• 0:03
  Henry Wong: So before I provide some real-world examples of RCAS integrations, maybe let me step back and let me explain what RCAS is.
• 0:11
  Henry Wong: This is not the traditional Bluetooth experience.
• 0:21
  Henry Wong: There are no pairing involved.
• 0:23
  Henry Wong: A single transmitter can broadcast high audio high quality audio to an unlimited number of nearby hearing devices simultaneously.
• 0:33
  Henry Wong: Now, when you look at RCAST integration, there are the devices and the location.
• 0:39
  Henry Wong: Let me talk about the devices first.
• 0:41
  Henry Wong: We believe RCAS broadcast audio feature will find its way into all Bluetooth-enabled audio devices.
• 0:48
  Henry Wong: Today, pretty much every major brand has devices with RCAST support.
• 0:53
  Henry Wong: An RCAST transmitter can be anything from your smartphone to the TV, tablets, laptops, and even to a public announcement system.
• 1:02
  Henry Wong: AureCast receivers are hearing aids, earbox, headphones, speakers, and any hearing instruments.
• 1:11
  Henry Wong: And as for location integration, we're really pleased with the deployment momentum.
• 1:16
  Henry Wong: Thousands of AuraCast location today is deployed across 19 countries.
• 1:22
  Dr. Dave Fabry: Yeah, it's been really fun.
• 1:24
  Dr. Dave Fabry: I still work with patients in my role.
• 1:26
  Dr. Dave Fabry: I work in RD, but as a component of that is ensuring to help ensure that the needs of the patient are met as we're developing the new technology.
• 1:36
  Dr. Dave Fabry: I still work with patients uh today, and as I upload them with our latest technology, we we have a device, Omega AI, that incorporates that uh Oracast finder.
• 1:49
  Dr. Dave Fabry: And and talk a little bit about the ease of connectivity that ORCAST does provide.
• 1:55
  Dr. Dave Fabry: You've alluded to the broadcast and and uh you know one-to-many uh applications.
• 2:01
  Dr. Dave Fabry: And and to me, the one thing that patients are immediately responding to is it's almost as easy as just searching out and finding a Wi-Fi connection.
• 2:10
  Dr. Dave Fabry: And you know, that ease of finding that in the wild is something I send my patients out on a on a wild goose chase, if you will, when they're in a situation that is like one that you described, and to look to see if there is broadcast or cast streams available, if there are broadcast streams available.
• 2:30
  Henry Wong: Yeah, that's right.
• 2:31
  Henry Wong: So um an analogy that we use, as you mentioned, Dave, is just like on someone's a Wi-Fi for audio.
• 2:37
  Henry Wong: You take out your phone, either on the phone or the app, you hit search, and you'll be able to search for any nearby oracast, broadcasts, or transmitters.
• 2:47
  Henry Wong: And if there's multiple transmitters or broadcasts, you would be you're able to see them.
• 2:52
  Henry Wong: And all the user has to do is select which one that he or she wants to listen into.
• 2:56
  Henry Wong: And the beauty of this is the audio comes directly from the transmitter or the broadcast source directly to your hearing device, be it Hearing Aid or Earbox or headphone.
• 3:07
  Henry Wong: It does not go through the phone.
• 3:09
  Henry Wong: Um, so similar use case, you can imagine if you go to a gym uh or a bar that have multiple TVs and they have incorporated these TVs with AuraCast, then you're able to take up your phone as an AuraCast assistant to be able to discover different AuraCasts and be able to listen in to the one that you choose.
• 3:30
  Dr. Dave Fabry: You mentioned that there are already thousands of Oracast broadcast transmitters being used around the world.
• 3:38
  Dr. Dave Fabry: Um, are there resources for professionals or end users who might be listening to this podcast to find out if there are locations that they plan to visit where Oracast transmitters are already in use?
• 3:53
  Henry Wong: Yeah, um that's a great question.
• 3:55
  Henry Wong: Um we at the Bluetooth.com slash AuraCast, we have an AuraCast location profile page.
• 4:04
  Henry Wong: And what this page is pretty much highlights some of the location that has deploy AuraCast um as a um use case study.
• 4:13
  Henry Wong: Now, this is not a comprehensive list.
• 4:16
  Henry Wong: It does not include you know all a thousand of them, um, but it includes location that has register with the Bluetooth SIC for us to promote them on the AuraCast location profile pages.
• 4:30
  Dr. Dave Fabry: Can let's say one of my patients who's who are familiar with going out and seeking to find those Oracast transmitters, if they discover a location that isn't on the list uh or a repository, is there a way that we can crowdsource this where people can put in locations where they have experienced the benefits of broadcast Oracast and then so that others can benefit from it as well?
• 4:57
  Henry Wong: Oh, definitely.
• 4:58
  Henry Wong: Um again, if you go to Bluetooth.com slash oracast, there's a uh location registration page.
• 5:04
  Henry Wong: Um there's only like five five fields there for a location that has deployed AuraCast.
• 5:08
  Henry Wong: We encourage them to register with us so we could track it and we could promote the location with these location profile case studies that we're doing.
• 5:18
  Dr. Dave Fabry: You know, for me as an audiologist, I'm excited about the applications for hearing aids, but we also know from the history that when telecoils were used in places of worship and in other public spaces, um, it often was met in some cases with resistance by the people who owned those spaces because you know they had to they had to install a loop or they had equipment that they had to maintain.
• 5:43
  Dr. Dave Fabry: And it was only for people with hearing loss that had hearing aids with it that were equipped with a telecoil.
• 5:49
  Dr. Dave Fabry: One of the reasons that personally I'm so excited about Oracast and its potential, as you mentioned at your opening remarks, that this is for in the goal really for the SIG is to raise awareness for this as a tool of anyone who's using wireless audio speakers or uh uh headsets of any form.
• 6:11
  Dr. Dave Fabry: And the fact that people with hearing loss or with normal hearing can use this ORCAST technology, I think, will really help with embracing and populating Oracast transmitters throughout the world.
• 6:26
  Dr. Dave Fabry: That's right.
• 6:27
  Henry Wong: Uh you know, we believe AuraCast forecast audio feature will find its way into all Bluetooth enabled audio devices.
• 6:34
  Henry Wong: And any location where there's a public address system or sound system can add AuraCast to enhance the visitor experience for people with all level of hearing health.
• 6:45
  Henry Wong: But we're already seeing you know great momentums in the market across both devices and locations.
• 6:49
  Henry Wong: You know, ABI research has forecast around 1 million locations will have AuraCast by the year 2029.
• 6:57
  Henry Wong: And it takes time, right?
• 6:58
  Henry Wong: I wish I could snap my finger.
• 7:00
  Henry Wong: It takes time, and I wish I could snap my finger and have every single location across the globe that has AuraCast, but these um these will take time.
• 7:09
  Henry Wong: And also, I wanted to also add is um there are a huge number of people who have hearing loss but not using hearing aid.
• 7:20
  Henry Wong: And one of the biggest reasons is the stigma of using and hearing aid.
• 7:26
  Henry Wong: When people think about hearing aid, they think about old medical equipment.
• 7:32
  Henry Wong: With ORCAS, we could help medicate that by trans by thinking these are not medical devices, these are protective devices for consumers.