Frankfurt Airport has become the first in the world to launch Auracast for gate announcements.
This is a significant step toward integrating Bluetooth LE Audio into everyday life. It benefits not just the deaf community but also those who need help hearing in one of the noisiest and busiest environments we can visit.
My experiences to date
To understand why Auracast gate announcements matter, it’s helpful to consider what life is like for people who struggle to hear.
Like many who have hearing loss, I find announcements anywhere really difficult to hear. From football stadiums to railway stations, from supermarkets to airports, places with public address systems could be broadcasting in Mongolian, for all it makes sense to me.
The outward-bound trip to Frankfurt was a good reminder of this. Heathrow is a really busy airport, serving millions of passengers every year.
You might think that following on-screen announcements is all that is needed, and in theory, that is correct, but things can change rapidly. Gates can be switched, flights delayed, and boarding reserved for those who paid for priority seats. If you can’t hear, you will never know.
Airlines do offer specialist support, but even when declared, this can be sporadic. My check-in for the journey out was electronic and that meant no one knew I needed support.
Sitting in the assistance seats doesn’t automatically attract attention, as staff are busy serving the hundreds of people on each flight, managing queues, and ensuring everyone receives a warm welcome. As I experienced on the journey to Germany, the drawback is that I had no idea when I was to be called to board my flight, so I just joined a queue in the hope it was the right one.
This makes me anxious: if I am in the wrong queue, I will need to interact with a staff member, and the immediate question is whether their voice will carry in the noisy, bustling space.
It happened.
My boarding pass didn’t scan, so the staff needed to check me in manually. This is not a happy moment, but thankfully, a quick manual scan, and it was off to boarding.
Finally on the plane, in the right seat, it is possible to relax.
The difference Auracast makes when flying
Auracast is a direct stream to the listening device: headphones, hearing aids, earbuds, Cochlear … or even speech-to-text devices. This is a massive step forward. The sound quality is terrific and light-years ahead of other assistive listening technologies.
To connect, open your Auracast Assistant app on your phone or similar device and look up the gate number you need. The Frankfurt Airport trials have just two gates with Auracast enabled, so it’s easy to scroll through the list and select either A16 or A17.
Then it’s a case of listening in.
The announcements we heard were rotated through languages, but it is possible to offer multiple streams, so in future it may be possible to offer more support for different nationalities. You don’t need to be on the Auracast for the entire time you are at the airport – you could if you wanted to, but the reality is that people will listen up for select periods.
The crucial thing is that it ends anxiety. Being able to hear what is being said clearly and directly is a massive step forward for deaf/hard of hearing travellers, or those who don’t have English or German as a first language and need some assistance picking up the nuances of each tongue.
The downside is that this is an Auracast-only system. And that means that travellers who don’t have Auracast in their hearing aids or headphones can’t tune in. With only a select few devices supporting Auracast, it will be a while before the majority can take advantage of this technology. Those with Telecoils unfortunately have to miss out. While that will disappoint some, the reality is we have to be moving towards an Auracast future with all hearing aid manufatcurers offering the Bluetooth technology as a standard. That is the only way this will work for everyone, and given airports cover the world it is going to be a way off.
Perhaps a stopgap solution is to install a dedicated Auracast speech-to-text screen in each waiting area, so announcements can appear in real time. We tested this using the HomeSpot BA308 Recast Nano Dongle, and this works.
It’s not perfect, as it’s trying to transcribe multiple languages one after another, but it is a workaround.
This is all great, but … what next?
Frankfurt Airport deserves credit for installing Auracast for this trial. It runs through the end of March, which suggests they are confident it will be successful and that passengers will find it beneficial.
The obvious next step is to roll out the technology across Frankfurt Airport, with each gate having its own Auracast and, optionally, an overarching Auracast for departure halls and check-in areas, so that major announcements can be delivered to passengers and those collecting or dropping them off.
Then it’s a matter of spreading it out. The success of this trial will enable other airports to see the difference Auracast is making now, understand how to integrate it into their existing setups, and launch their own.
Yes, Frankfurt Airport’s installation of Auracast at two gates is a big deal, but there must come a time when it is just another facility available at the airport, making travel easier and more enjoyable.
For now, though, we are delighted that Frankfurt Airport is leading the way, and we look forward to seeing positive results by the end of March.
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