Case Study: Auracast and Assistive Listening Technology at Contact Theatre, Manchester

Location: Contact Theatre, Manchester
Date: 2025
Attendees:

• Bryn Badger - Sarabec Technical Manager
• Chris Davies - National Account Manager
• James Manders - Ewing Foundation
• Adam Steed - Sound Technician, Contact Theatre
• Peter - Independent Audiologist and Consultant
• Representatives from the College of Audiologists (3 attendees)

Background

Sarabec visited the Contact Theatre in Manchester after James Manders from the Ewing Foundation, an organisation dedicated to supporting the education of children with hearing difficulties, reached out. James had recently purchased the earisMAX TV transmitter from Sarabec, and Bryn, the Technical Manager at Sarabec, was able to assist with the remote setup. While discussing Auracast features with James, it became apparent that James was a strong advocate for Auracast® technology, which he believes benefits not only people with hearing loss but the wider population as well.

Auracast is hailed as the next big leap forward, a broadcast audio feature built into the new Bluetooth® Low Energy (LE) Audio standard. It promises to revolutionise the listening experience by streaming high-quality audio directly from a single source to multiple (unlimited) nearby devices, including compatible hearing aids, cochlear implants, and regular headphones or earbuds. To learn more about Auracast, you can read our Auracast News article here.

James invited Sarabec to the Contact Theatre to experience their recently installed Auracast system, which had been integrated using Ampetronic’s Auri transmitter - the first permanent, working installation of its kind in the UK.

System Installation Overview

The system has been installed directly into the theatre's audio infrastructure. The device is connected via Ethernet to the theatre’s sound/mixing desk, leveraging Dante audio protocols for seamless integration.

According to Adam Steed, the installation took no more than five minutes, largely due to the theatre’s existing AV infrastructure. The team also produced a short social media video to showcase the new system.

Testing and Performance Evaluation

The group conducted a live test of the Auri system:

• The group initially used a standard Auri receiver with over-ear headphones, while simulated café ambient noise was piped through the theatre speakers.
• Only the stage microphones (used by James and Adam) were transmitted through the Auri system.
• While the Auri system functioned correctly, the users noted that there was difficulty in isolating speech from background noise due to the receiver-headphone configuration.

The test was then repeated using the earisMAX headphones, and the improvement was immediate and dramatic:

• Noise cancelling technology effectively muted the background café sounds.
• Spoken audio from James and Adam was clear and intelligible.
• The earisMAX headphones were passed around the group, with universal agreement on their superior performance.

Participants highlighted the potential benefits for neurodivergent individuals and children with special educational needs (SEN), noting how noise reduction could reduce auditory overwhelm and improve focus.

Additional Device Testing

We further tested the earisMAX microphone, which successfully covered the entire theatre space without dropouts or signal degradation.

The team also revisited the issue James had faced with the earisMAX TV transmitter. He had intended to use it with a lapel microphone via a mini sound desk. We suggested skipping the sound desk and slotted the lapel microphone directly into the back of the TV transmitter. However, we discovered that the lapel mic was a 4-pole multimedia type, which caused incompatibility issues with the 2-3 pole input on the transmitter. Swapping in a 2-pole adapter resolved the issue instantly.

We also discussed the potential use of the earisMAX microphone at the upcoming BATOD (British Association of Teachers of the Deaf) Conference, recommending it as a wireless, more flexible alternative to using a lapel mic tethered to the transmitter - James agreed this was a more suitable option.

Sector Implications and Observations

There was consensus among the group that the education sector has long been dominated by Phonak and traditional sound field systems, often at high costs. The earisMAX system, with its competitive pricing and comparable (or superior) performance, was identified as a strong alternative.

Importantly, the demonstration showed that theatre-wide Auracast coverage could have been achieved using the earisMAX TV transmitter, offering a more cost-effective solution, though with fewer system-level integration features compared to the Auri system.

Conclusion

The visit to Contact Theatre was highly successful, confirming the strong performance of earisMAX products in a real-world, professional setting. The hands-on comparison with existing Auracast infrastructure highlighted earisMAX’s noise-cancellation advantage, ease of use, and applicability in both theatres and educational environments.

This case study reinforces the value of earisMAX in delivering accessible, high-quality audio experiences, and illustrates its potential to complement, and in some cases, outperform more complex Auracast systems.