Set up an Auracast broadcast at home: TV, laptop, console or phone

The home case is simple: the TV broadcasts, and everyone in the room listens on their own earbuds or hearing aids at their own volume. Nobody pairs. Visitors join. A second stream can carry audio description for one person and the plain programme for everyone else.

Does your TV already do it?

Four makers have built it in.

• LG: every 2025 OLED (B5, C5, G5, M5) and QNED85A and up, via a free update from July 2025. Sound menu, then Auracast; pick 16, 24 or 48 kHz. 2026 sets are reported to have it natively but LG's spec pages do not say so yet.
• Samsung: the high end only. Neo QLED 8K (QN800, QN900 families, QN990F, QN900F) and Micro LED from 2023, and the S95F. Samsung's 2026 launch material does not mention Auracast at all; check the support page for your exact model before you count on it.
• Panasonic: 2024 and 2025 Z-series and W-series premium sets, by firmware from December 2025. One owner notes that switching Auracast on mutes the TV's speakers.
• Philips: most of the 2026 TitanOS range, rolling out model by model from June 2026. Sets below the PUS7801 miss out.

Sony Bravia, TCL, Hisense (bar one model) and every soundbar: no.

For every other TV: a transmitter

Plug a transmitter into the TV's optical output (or HDMI ARC, or the headphone socket), and it broadcasts whatever the TV plays. The TV's own speakers keep working, or not, as you prefer.

Three good choices at three prices:

• HomeSpot BA210 v2, about US$50. The budget pick hearing forums recommend. Optical, 3.5 mm and RCA in. Naming and passwording the broadcast needs a Chromium browser and a USB cable, which is clunky but one-off.
• Avantree Audikast 4HA, US$80. Built for hearing aids: custom name, encryption, a QR code to join. Latency quoted at 60 ms by Avantree and measured at 120 ms on a forum; either is fine for television.
• Sennheiser BTA1, US$130 list and about US$80 on the street. The first big-brand TV transmitter: HDMI ARC as well as optical and 3.5 mm, lip-sync adjustment, 50 m range. Auracast only, so it will not pair your old Classic Bluetooth headphones.

If you are also buying headphones, Sennheiser's RS 275 and Avantree's Opera Aura bundle a transmitter with a pair that joins other broadcasts too.

From a laptop, PC, Mac or console

A USB-C dongle. The Creative BT-W6 (about A$90) has a Broadcast Mode that can be open or password-protected and works on Windows, macOS, PS5 and Switch. The Sennheiser BTD 700 and the FlooGoo FMA121 do the same; the FlooGoo adds a 3.5 mm input and separate left and right broadcasts. Mind the model number: Creative's BT-W5 does not broadcast.

From your phone

A Samsung, Pixel, Sony or Xiaomi phone broadcasts its own music to anyone in range: on a Samsung, Settings, Connections, Bluetooth, Audio broadcast, then Broadcast; it shows a QR code for friends to scan. Samsung's One UI 8.5 also broadcasts the microphone, which turns the phone into a remote mic for a hearing-aid wearer across the table.

On a plane

The Avantree Voyager plugs into the seat-back socket with the twin-prong adapter and broadcasts for 15 hours. JBL's Tour Pro 3 case does the same job with its own earbuds.

Locking the broadcast

Open broadcasts are fine in a detached house. In an apartment, set a broadcast code so the neighbours do not join; transmitters that support it print the code as a QR you can stick on the TV cabinet. Every transmitter in the database says whether it supports encryption.

What to expect

Latency of 50 to 120 ms, invisible for television, noticeable in rhythm games. Range of a large room, less through walls. Earbuds last longer than on ordinary Bluetooth because LC3 is lighter. And if someone turns up with earbuds that cannot join, the database will tell you why in ten seconds.