It’s been a few years since the official introduction of the Bluetooth technology Auracast, which allows devices like earbuds, headphones, speakers, and hearing aids to connect to a single source without the need for pairing. Like a radio picks up your local radio stations, all you have to do is connect to the right broadcast. These could be flight announcements from your gate at the airport, the microphone a teacher is using during a presentation, or the TV you’re watching while on the treadmill at the gym.
By letting you link directly into one of these broadcasts, Auracast can increase auditory accessibility for those who are hard of hearing, or just more easily pick the relevant information out of a noisy environment. Auracast is available today, but many tech companies don’t yet support it, and others barely talk about it — even when it’s in their products.
Every year since 2023, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) has shown off Auracast’s capabilities in invite-only meetings at CES. But then news dwindles, journalists move on, and life in the audio world continues for another 11 months before the cycle continues. There has been an uptick in announcements recently, with Sony adding what it calls Audio Sharing support, which uses Auracast, to its XM5 and XM6 headphones, as well as support on recent phones from Google, Samsung, and OnePlus. But you’d be forgiven for missing them.
JBL is one of the few companies that consistently touts the Auracast capabilities of its compatible products — so much so that some are under the impression that Auracast is a JBL-exclusive tech (one of my colleagues, in fact, thought this). It’s included in JBL’s Bluetooth speakers like the Charge 6, Clip 5, and PartyBox Stage 320, as well as headphones like the Tour One M3, which even include a separate Auracast audio transmitter to share with compatible nearby headphones.
But as an early adopter, JBL ran into some issues. “Integrating Auracast into our products presented several technological challenges, particularly because we committed to supporting it across multiple platforms during its early development phase,” says Sharon Peng, the SVP of global engineering at JBL. “While Bluetooth SIG offered a foundational framework, they did not cover all the nuances required for robust implementation. Early adopters like JBL had to navigate a degree of ambiguity, but Bluetooth SIG has since introduced more structured compliance and testing protocols.”
That might explain issues reported by Reddit users, specifically with JBL PartyBox speakers, which can only receive Auracast broadcasts from JBL devices. Peng said JBL is aware of the issue and is working to correct it with OTA firmware updates. “In short,” Peng said, “JBL’s Auracast architecture is designed for compatibility, and we’re committed to expanding support across our product lineup to ensure users can enjoy seamless connectivity—whether they’re using JBL gear or third-party devices.”
Henry Wong, the director of market development at Bluetooth SIG, echoed Peng’s commitment to interoperability. Wong was also aware of the issues with the JBL party speaker mode. “We’ve been in communication with JBL, and they are actively working to align their products with the full Auracast requirements to ensure broader compatibility and clarity for consumers.”
Not every company that supports Auracast is as vocal about it as JBL. Samsung has supported Auracast in its high-end 8K TVs since 2023, and LG added support on its 2025-model-year OLED and quantum dot LED TVs. Neither company mentions Auracast support on the product pages. I only found out that LG includes it when I dug into the C5’s menus while reviewing the TV in the spring.
In fact, when I wrote about the feature in June, the only online mention of Auracast support in LG’s TVs was a press release from Starkey, a hearing aid manufacturer. LG did not have its own press release, and directed me to the one from Starkey when I asked about the feature. But limiting announcements to primarily the hearing aid community, while important, means that the public at large isn’t even aware of this important capability they’ve already placed in or over their ears. Using Auracast with your TV allows each person to set the volume for their individual needs, or boost frequencies for clearer dialogue. But beyond the hearing accessibility, Auracast easily lets multiple people watch something late at night with headphones without waking the family or disturbing neighbors.
LG informed me that while Auracast is not a headline feature in its current marketing efforts, it’s listed in specifications on the LG website (although as of publish, I am still unable to find mention of Auracast on LG TV product pages). And while the company expressed its support of the technology, it also noted that Auracast’s relevance to TV buyers is still emerging.
LG already promotes Auracast on its xboom line of speakers and earbuds, but the implication is that the unknown relevance to TV buyers is stifling a wider marketing push. But why the reticence? When talking broadly about the industry, Peng might have the answer. “There was also a degree of industry hesitancy, which is typical with emerging technologies. Manufacturers often weigh the risks of investing in features that may not yet be widely adopted or standardized.”
Auracast, though, is already in earbuds and headphones, and not just expensive ones from JBL or Sony. EarFun earbuds — which are all under $100 — include it, and according to marketing manager Helen Shaw, the company’s design team spent months troubleshooting compatibility issues to get it working. And since EarFun uses Qualcomm chips in its earbuds, Qualcomm assisted in resolving some of those issues. But the experimentation and determination from a smaller company like EarFun shows that Auracast integration doesn’t require a large company with big resources to invest in its future.
Where there does need to be some investment is the infrastructure — in the form of transmitters and employee training — in the places where Auracast can be most useful. But that adoption hasn’t been fast. Venues, including the Sydney Opera House, have begun adding Auracast support for performances, as have some universities and churches, but it’s going to take broader knowledge and wider availability in headphones, earbuds, and hearing aids before we see it regularly and it starts to benefit those with accessibility needs in their daily lives.
This is why the lack of more extensive marketing is frustrating, especially when it comes to its potential use in the home. The technology is already in many people’s ears, and maybe also in their TVs. There are even transmitters available for under $100 to add Auracast connectivity to a source you already own. If more people knew about Auracast, more people would be interested in it, and venues might start implementing it.
But do companies even care to educate consumers? Auracast, as mentioned, is a brand-agnostic technology. But there’s a strong trend for companies to create walled gardens. TCL has begun to do this a bit with the release of the Z100 Dolby Flex Connect speaker, which requires a 2025 TCL QM series TV to set up. This is not a restriction of the Dolby Flex Connect technology. And of course Apple is incredibly successful using this strategy — as I type on my MacBook while wearing my AirPods with my iPhone set in front of me and my iPad on the coffee table. Imagine how quickly Auracast would be adopted if Apple were to include it in the most easily recognized headphones and earbuds in the world. So far, though, there’s been no news out of Cupertino mentioning Auracast or any future Apple implementation. (I’ve reached out to Apple for a statement but have not yet received a response.)
Still, there’s a lot of hope and commitment to Auracast among all the companies I talked to. Each one made sure to accentuate the importance and potential they feel Auracast has. According to Bluetooth SIG’s Wong, “Auracast broadcast audio is gaining strong momentum across the industry. We’re seeing increasing adoption from device manufacturers, growing deployments in public venues around the globe, and enthusiastic support from advocacy groups and influencers.”
When (if?) Auracast becomes widely available and supported, the accessibility benefits will be huge. Families watching TV together will all be able to customize their dialogue intelligibility to enjoy content equally. It’ll be easier to hear travel updates at your gate or next stop announcements on the train. Students won’t have to strain to hear the lecturer, and we’ll be able to share our music or podcasts more easily. But we all need to know about Auracast before we can care about it, and the majority of that responsibility falls on the manufacturers that support it.
