Brighton station has become the first rail station in the United Kingdom to permanently install Auracast, a Bluetooth technology designed to help people with hearing loss, according to a July 27 announcement. Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express are using this system so that station announcements are broadcast directly from the public address system to hearing aids.
The Auracast system does not require pairing of devices and can also stream announcements to compatible headphones and earbuds worn by other commuters. This aims to overcome the poor acoustics of Brighton's 185-year-old Grade II* listed building. The technology is already used in several theatres across London’s West End and was recently tested at Bristol Temple Meads station, but Brighton marks its first permanent installation on the railway.
Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express have implemented Brighton as a permanent pilot location. They hope that high passenger uptake will support funding for a wider rollout across more railway stations.
Carl Martin, accessibility lead for Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express, said: “This technology will have a huge impact, overcoming the difficulty of hearing announcements in our beautiful but acoustically very challenging, noisy station at Brighton. Auracast is new to the railway and we’re delighted to have installed it permanently at Brighton station. As people upgrade their devices, more will find they have access to crystal clear announcements.”
Alastair Moore, Technology Lead at the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), welcomed the move: “However, for the 18 million people in the UK who are deaf or have hearing loss, announcements can remain a major barrier. Places like stations often have high levels of reverberation and background noise making important information hard to understand. We hope this will encourage more places across public transport, education, healthcare, performing arts and places of worship to adopt Auracast and help make public spaces accessible for deaf people and people with hearing loss.”
