Assistive Listening System for Lecture Halls Taps Smartphone Usage

Assistive Listening System for Lecture Halls Taps Smartphone Usage

A Germany-based AV company with global operations has released a new system that delivers assistive listening over WiFi to a student's smartphone. Sennheiser introduced MobileConnect during the recent Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2017 conference, which took place in Amsterdam last week. The product works over existing wireless infrastructure and allows the user a choice of smart device and headphones to listen to audio via a free app.

Here's how it works: Once the user downloads the app to a smartphone or tablet, he or she connects to the MobileConnect network within the venue, starts the app and chooses the hearing support channel. The app lets the user adjust the sound to suit personal needs through a "personal hearing assistant." The venue installs Sennheiser directional microphones in the space. The signals from those mics are routed to a "ConnectStation," which sends the sound back into the space to be heard through the wireless network, letting users pick up the audio signal via their smart devices using Ethernet. The technology is compatible with hearing aids, cochlear implants and earphones.

The system was developed in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute, a national applied research organization that conducts its activities through 69 institutes and research units around Germany.

"MobileConnect utilizes existing network technologies and a 'bring your own device' approach," said Xenios Maroudas, the portfolio manager of business communication, in a prepared statement. "The system thus reduces the total cost of ownership for organizations such as universities by removing barriers to being able to offer a genuinely practical to the needs of hearing impaired students."

The MobileConnect app is available in the Apple AppStore and Google Play.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • student reading a book with a brain, a protective hand, a computer monitor showing education icons, gears, and leaves

    4 Steps to Responsible AI Implementation

    Researchers at the University of Kansas Center for Innovation, Design & Digital Learning (CIDDL) have published a new framework for the responsible implementation of artificial intelligence at all levels of education.

  • glowing digital brain interacts with an open book, with stacks of books beside it

    Federal Court Rules AI Training with Copyrighted Books Fair Use

    A federal judge ruled this week that artificial intelligence company Anthropic did not violate copyright law when it used copyrighted books to train its Claude chatbot without author consent, but ordered the company to face trial on allegations it used pirated versions of the books.

  • server racks, a human head with a microchip, data pipes, cloud storage, and analytical symbols

    OpenAI, Oracle Expand AI Infrastructure Partnership

    OpenAI and Oracle have announced they will develop an additional 4.5 gigawatts of data center capacity, expanding their artificial intelligence infrastructure partnership as part of the Stargate Project, a joint venture among OpenAI, Oracle, and Japan's SoftBank Group that aims to deploy 10 gigawatts of computing capacity over four years.

  • laptop displaying a phishing email icon inside a browser window on the screen

    Phishing Campaign Targets ED Grant Portal

    Threat researchers at cybersecurity company BforeAI have identified a phishing campaign spoofing the U.S. Department of Education's G5 grant management portal.