The skinny:
- Brighton Station is the first permanent Auracast installation in a railway station in the U.K.
- The Auri system makes it easy for anyone with Auracast-enabled hearing aids, headphones, earbuds, or Cochlear implants to access station announcements and hear them clearly in their devices.
- Ampetronic | Listen Technologies installed Auri TX2N 2-channel transmitters in the Brighton Station quickly without any disruption to service or station downtime.
Ampetronic | Listen Technologies’ Auri Installed at Brighton Station
Auri, the Auracast broadcast audio-based assistive listening solution co-developed by Listen Technologies and Ampetronic, has been installed at Brighton station in the U.K. This is the first permanent Auracast installation in a railway station in the U.K. The Auri system makes it easy for anyone with Auracast-enabled hearing aids, headphones, earbuds, or Cochlear implants to access station announcements and hear them clearly in their devices. Announcements are broadcast from Auri transmitters installed throughout the station to anyone with compatible receiving devices within range.
Being able to hear important information about gates and platforms, departure times, and safety while traveling is essential. Busy, noisy, transport centers like Brighton station can be challenging hearing environments, especially for passengers with hearing loss. The Auri system filters out background noise and delivers station audio directly to listeners’ ears for greater clarity and intelligibility. The system can also benefit people without hearing loss, including passengers who require language interpretation, are neurodiverse, or have visual impairments.
Southern, Thameslink, and Gatwick Express railways operating under Greater Thameslink Railway (GTR), sponsored the permanent installation of Auri at the 185-year-old Brighton station. Bristol Temple Meads station featured the Auri system last year as part of a trial of Auracast broadcast audio technology in its buildings.
GTR hosted an event at Brighton station on July 8 for members of the Brighton Hearing Loss Group so they could try the newly installed system. People who experienced the technology during the event remarked about the clarity of audio and expressed confidence at being able to hear important announcements.
Ampetronic | Listen Technologies installed Auri TX2N 2-channel transmitters in the Brighton station. The sleek, low-profile transmitters provide long-range, low-latency Auracast broadcast audio. The installation happened quickly without any disruption to service or station downtime.
Accessing the audio broadcasts is easy, convenient, and free for station visitors with compatible devices. They can find and select the broadcasts through their smartphones, similar to how they would search for and select a Wi-Fi network. Then, audio is broadcast to their Auracast enabled devices. “Google shared valuable insight into user onboarding methodologies, helping to inform our understanding of current device capabilities and future developments,” Jonathon Hoskin, division sales manager–specialist solutions at Ampetronic | Listen Technologies, added.
“We’re constantly looking for innovative ways to make it easier for everyone to travel on our network, particularly our disabled passengers," said accessibility lead for Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express Carl Martin. “This fabulous technology will have a huge impact, overcoming the difficulty of hearing announcements in our beautiful but acoustically very challenging, noisy station at Brighton.”
