Geemarc is adding Auracast to its hearing loops

Geemarc, which has made amplified phones and hearing loops since 1974, is adding Auracast to its loop range. It showed Auracast-equipped units at the EUHA hearing-care congress in Hannover last month and handed out a 2027 catalogue with them in it, Aurahear reports.

This is a small product story with a bigger point. Loops are what most counters, ticket windows and small meeting rooms use today. A loop that also broadcasts Auracast lets a venue serve both groups of listeners without choosing between them.

What's changing

According to Aurahear:

• The portable desktop loop kits are getting Auracast. These sit on a reception desk or shop counter, with a microphone for the staff member. Someone with a telecoil hearing aid uses the loop as before. Someone with Auracast hearing aids or earbuds can join the broadcast instead.
• The room and vehicle packs are being updated too. Aurahear names them as the WallLoop, Aura Room and Aura Car Pack. On Geemarc's UK site today, the matching products are the LoopHEAR160 V2 WallLoop, Room and Car packs. The current Room Pack covers rooms up to 50 m², with a desk microphone and 40 m of loop cable, and has no Bluetooth.

The report has no model numbers, prices or release dates, and no quote from Geemarc. Geemarc's own website doesn't mention Auracast yet. We'll add the products to our database once Geemarc lists them.

What doesn't have Auracast yet

Geemarc also makes amplified home phones, mobile phones, neckloops, TV speakers and earphones, clocks and doorbells. None of those has Auracast yet, Aurahear says. That includes the Amplidect home phones and the CL7 700 TV earphones. The CL7 700 uses Bluetooth 5.2, which led Aurahear to wonder about a firmware update. It labels that as its own guess, and so do we: Bluetooth 5.2 alone doesn't guarantee LE Audio support.

Why loops plus Auracast makes sense

Telecoils aren't going away soon. Many hearing aids in use today have one and no Auracast, and Australia's Hearing Services Program still requires a telecoil model to be offered. Meanwhile, newer hearing aids and ordinary earbuds increasingly have Auracast. A counter loop that does both is a simple way to cover both groups, and it's the same approach we saw in churches that kept their loop and added a transmitter.