MOVIX becomes Japan's first cinema chain with permanent Auracast

Japan now has a cinema chain with Auracast installed as a permanent fixture rather than a demonstration. MOVIX, the multiplex brand run by Shochiku Multiplex Theatres (SMT), broadcasts film soundtracks over Auracast at four sites, and Kyodo News reported on 18 September that hearing aid users at a trial screening could follow the story and laugh along with everyone else.

The Bluetooth SIG's location profile for MOVIX describes it as the first permanent, real-world cinema installation of Auracast in Japan.

Four sites in eight months

According to the Bluetooth SIG, as cited by Kyodo, installation began in November 2025 at MOVIX Kawaguchi in Saitama Prefecture. By July 2026 four cinemas supported it: Kawaguchi, MOVIX Kameari in Tokyo, MOVIX Shimizu in Shizuoka City and MOVIX Miyoshi in Aichi Prefecture.

SMT runs 20 MOVIX and Piccadilly cinemas nationally, so this is a minority of the chain for now. The SIG profile lists the four as "select locations, including", which leaves room for more.

Auracast sits alongside the infrared assistive listening system the cinemas already had; it does not replace it. Guests connect their own Auracast hearing aids, earbuds or headphones. Kyodo notes the setup needs a transmitter but no major renovation, and one transmitter serves any number of receivers. Our venue entry has the detail.

The equipment

The transmitters are Bettear CASTER units, from the Israeli company Bettear, installed by Eyear System of Edogawa, Tokyo. Guests without an Auracast device can use a Bettear RTX receiver with a neckloop.

Eyear System began selling the CASTER and RTX in Japan on 10 June 2025, calling them the first Auracast products for facility use in the country by its own research. It listed cinemas among the target venues from the start.

In testing reported on the SIG profile, users said they clearly heard more than 80 per cent of dialogue, including in films with complex soundtracks. Cochlear implant users reported no misalignment between the Auracast audio and their processor microphones.

The Miyoshi screening

On 2 July 2026, Riken Sangyo and GN Hearing Japan, based in Yokohama, jointly held an invitation-only event at MOVIX Miyoshi. A panel discussion came first, with Lori Lee, the Bluetooth SIG's senior director for APAC and China, alongside hearing aid makers and retailers. Interpretation was itself broadcast over Auracast, with Japanese and English channels to choose from.

Then about 60 people, hearing aid users and non-users together, watched a period comedy. Kyodo's report focused on the simple outcome: the audience laughed at the same moments. Masayuki Sakurai, a director at Riken Sangyo, demonstrated an Auracast-compatible hearing aid on the day.

Why it matters

Hearing aid microphones in a cinema pick up the room as much as the film. Infrared and induction loops have long been the fix, but each needs its own receiver or a telecoil. Auracast sends the soundtrack straight to the hearing aid. Our comparison with loops covers the trade-offs.

The wider Japanese picture is building too. Tokyo University of Technology ran public Auracast demonstrations on Bettear hardware in October and November 2025, including alongside the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics. The SIG profile also points to audio description and foreign-language tracks as possible next uses at MOVIX, though nothing has been announced.

For other cinemas with Auracast, see our cinema listings. If you have not joined a broadcast before, here is how.