Bettear's free tools make the Auracast sign and count the receivers, with an Australian option

The hardest part of Auracast in a venue is often not the transmitter. It is telling people the broadcast exists and what it is called. A visitor who opens their phone's Bluetooth settings and sees three unlabelled streams will give up.

Bettear, which makes the CASTER venue transmitters, has put two free tools on its website that deal with this. One makes the sign. The other counts the loan receivers. Aurahear reported the sign generator on 2 November.

The sign generator

The sign generator runs in a browser. You fill in a short form and it draws the sign beside it. You then print it, or save it as a PDF.

What you can set:

• Paper size: Letter, Tabloid, A4 or A3.
• System: Auracast, Wi-Fi, or both.
• Headline, room name and message. The default headline is "Assistive Listening Available".
• Stream names. You type each broadcast name exactly as a listener will see it on their phone or in their hearing aid app. You can add more than one, so a room with an English stream and an audio description stream can list both.
• A tick box for loan receivers, which adds a line saying the venue lends them.
• A QR code and a venue logo, both optional uploads. Bettear says the QR image stays in your browser.
• White or black style.

The stream name field is the part that matters most. Getting the name on the sign to match the name on the listener's screen, letter for letter, is the single biggest help you can give a first-time user. Our guide to joining a broadcast shows what the listener sees.

The receiver calculator

The receiver calculator asks for a building code, a system, and the number of seats in each room. It returns how many receivers the venue should hold, and how many of those must work with hearing aids (in practice, a receiver with a neckloop).

You can choose from three codes: the United States (ADA), California (CBC), or Australia (NCC). That third option is the interesting one for readers here.

The page shows its working only for the US rules. For example, under the ADA table a room of 51 to 200 seats needs two receivers plus one for every 25 seats over 50, and at least two must be hearing-aid compatible. Bettear does not show the table it uses for Australia, so treat an Australian result as a starting figure and check it with your building certifier.

One line on the calculator is worth repeating. The count covers receivers the venue provides. People with Auracast hearing aids or earbuds can also join with their own devices, but the calculator does not subtract them from the count. Why Australian venues still need a receiver fleet.

The fine print

It is built around Bettear's products. The finished sign carries the Bettear logo beside the Auracast mark and the hearing loss symbol. The QR code instructions assume you made the code in a CASTER management panel. The form takes an uploaded image, so a code from another system may work, but we have not tried one.

The sign rules are American. Bettear says the headline prints 17 mm tall, which meets the ADA minimum for a sign read from under six feet. It also quotes the ADA rules on where signs go and on contrast and glare. There is no Australian or European equivalent in the tool.

It is a planning aid. Bettear says so on both pages: this is not legal advice, and the authority that signs off your building decides what is required.

The Auracast logo has a condition. Bettear's page says venues that display the Auracast logo must register their location with the Bluetooth SIG, and links to the form. The SIG's own venue page says registration is how a venue gets the right to use the trademark.

Static QR codes need care. For password-protected streams where the passkey changes, Bettear suggests pointing people to its B-PASS panel instead of printing a code. Aurahear adds a fair warning about printed codes in public places: check them now and then to make sure nobody has stuck a different one on top.

Bettear is not the only one

Listen Technologies, which makes the Auri system with Ampetronic, points venues to a free signage generator and an accessibility calculator in its own venue guide. Listen's calculator also covers the USA, California and Australia.

So a venue with any brand of transmitter now has free help with both jobs. If you run an Auri system, start with Listen's tools. If you run Bettear, use Bettear's. If you run something else, Bettear's generator will still lay out a clear sign with your stream names on it. It will have Bettear's logo on it, so you may prefer to use it as a template for your own.

Still choosing a system? See how the main venue transmitters compare.