An Off-Broadway comedy show is running entirely on Auracast
Drew Michael's "Love Me" at New York's SoHo Playhouse has no speakers for the audience. Everyone listens through headphones fed by an Auri broadcast, or through their own Auracast hearing aids and earbuds. It closes on 22 November.
Most venues add Auracast as an accessibility option next to the main sound system. Comedian Drew Michael has gone the other way. His show "Love Me", now playing at SoHo Playhouse in New York, uses Auracast as the sound system itself.
Michael, a former "Saturday Night Live" writer, describes it as an immersive show built around headphones and detailed sound design. It is part of the New York Comedy Festival and runs until 22 November.
How it works
At each performance, audience members are handed headphones. Each pair is wired to a small Auri receiver, which picks up the broadcast from an Auri transmitter in the theatre. Auri is the Auracast system from Listen Technologies and its UK sister company Ampetronic.
Audience members with their own Auracast hearing aids, headphones or earbuds can listen on those instead.
Michael uses Auracast on stage too. He wears Auracast hearing aids, and he performs against recorded audio sent on a separate broadcast, so his hearing aids act as his in-ear monitors. Live captions are also available free on an iPad.
Why he did it
Michael told deaf journalist Liam O'Dell that the team first looked at Auracast as a way to let hearing aid and cochlear implant users connect directly. Then the idea grew: what if the whole show ran on it? The result is that the hearing aid user and the person borrowing headphones get exactly the same feed.
Listen Technologies worked with SKMac, a manufacturers' rep firm, to set the system up for the show. Neither report lists the exact kit or how many receivers the theatre holds. Auri's venue transmitter is the TX2N, and the RX1 is its receiver.
Is it really the first?
Listen Technologies calls it the first show in the US to use Auracast as its main sound system. O'Dell reports the claim but doesn't verify it, and neither have we. Elsewhere, Auracast is already an access option in big venues such as the Sydney Opera House and London's National Theatre, but there it sits next to the main PA rather than replacing it.
Why it matters
Headphone theatre is not new, but it has usually relied on radio systems that only the venue's own headsets can receive. Built on Auracast, the show's main feed is also open to anyone carrying a compatible device. There is no separate assistive-listening system, and nobody with a hearing aid gets a second-best version of the sound.
Sources
Auracast is a trademark of the Bluetooth SIG. This site is independent and not affiliated with the Bluetooth SIG or any manufacturer.