Auracast: Tried and True
I was thrilled to be invited as a guest lecturer at York University, to present about classroom soundfield systems and lecture on Auracast in group spaces. Given that Auracast is so new, the "students" (they were all DHH Teachers) had some great questions.
One question that struck a chord with me was around bimodal students (and teachers). A particular student had bimodal devices (Oticon Intent HA and Sonnet 3 CI) and reported different latency levels when connecting to traditional bluetooth on his phone or computer to play music, participate in a Zoom call or stream a video. Cochlear and ReSound solved this specifically when using the MultiMic+ remote mic, but clearly this can still be a problem for individuals with bimodal devices. The question was asked, will Auracast fix this?
During class, we connected his Oticon Intent HA to our Simeon Audita III classroom soundfield system's Auracast signal and it sounded great. No perceived latency and crystal clear audio no matter where I wandered to in the room (yes I tend to wander a bit). Later this year, we're hopeful Med-El will release the firmware for the Sonnet 3 processor and people will be able to connect both devices to our Auracast signal, fixing the bimodal delay. For this person, this is a massive quality-of-life issue and I'm excited to see how Auracast can solve this in classrooms and other congregate settings with the Simeon Audita III.
Auracast™ broadcast audio is a new Bluetooth® capability that will deliver life-changing audio experiences. It will let you share your audio, unmute your world, and hear your best, enhancing the way you engage with others and the world around you.
