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5 Predictions for Wireless Audio Streaming in 2022

By | Education, Food for thought, Hearing Assistance, Home Audio, Wireless Audio | No Comments

As A/V technologies grow more advanced and consumers become more reliant on their smartphone devices, we expect the field of local audio over WiFi to continue growing in the new year. Below are our 5 predictions for wireless audio streaming in 2022.

1. Increased Focus on Accessibility 

If there is one positive thing to come out of the past two years it’s that we have all become more aware of the health challenges and disabilities of others. That includes individuals with hearing impairments. 

This spotlight on hearing has lead to a focus on providing more and better accessibility options in theaters and churches. We predict this focus will continue to grow in 2022, with even more businesses and organizations using audio over WiFi for hearing assistance. The venues we anticipate will grow the most are schools and universities, hospitals and conferences and convention centers.

2. Social Distancing Will Still Be Important

No, unfortunately, we are not yet done with social distancing. As new variants continue to spread throughout the word (and there will be more no doubt, Omicron is not the final one), we’re going to have to continue maintaining safer distances in certain public establishments and spaces.

Wireless audio streaming is a simple, flexible and affordable way to permit social distancing, while allowing businesses to stay open and provide entrainment options. Expect this to continue throughout most if not all of 2022.

3. New Applications Will Be Discovered

We get calls from folks all the time that want to know, “Will AudioFetch work for X?” or “Can I use AudioFetch for Y?” And 99.9% of the time, our answer is yes! 

AudioFetch is so flexible, so simple and so affordable, there are near-infinite uses. We could never rattled them all off or list them all on our site. Heck, we haven’t even thought of some of them! But if it has to do with helping people hear better in public venues or at home, AudioFetch can probably help! 

Take Itchy-O for example, a 57-member avant-garde marching band and performance music group based in Denver, CO. The Itchy-O band leader uses AudioFetch to communicate with the other members as they dance throughout the crowd during their performances. We certainly couldn’t have imagined this application, but what a cool use and perfectly suited use for AudioFetch! 

4. More Businesses Using Wireless Audio Distribution

Interest in using AudioFetch for wireless audio distribution has grow significantly in the past couple years as businesses look for more flexible and affordable audio solutions that meet the needs of today’s tech-savvy consumer. AudioFetch has replaced the existing wireless audio distribution system for a music festival and race track, and we expect to see even more businesses using AudioFetch in this way in 2022. 

5. Continued Interest in Home Entertainment Options

We’ve all spent a lot of time at home these past couple years. And while there were certainly times when the cabin fever seemed unbearable and we would have rather been ANYWHERE else on the planet, collectively, we have all learned how to be at home more, and some folks even now prefer it.

Just because we’re staying home more, however, doesn’t mean we don’t want to be entertained. This is clear when you look at all the home-focused technology to come out of CES this year. We especially loved Samsung’s The FreeStyle projector that would be perfect for hosting outdoor movie nights with AudioFetch Home as the audio solution! 

We are choosing to stay positive and have an optimistic outlook for 2022. We look forward to working with even more large franchises, mom and pop businesses and individuals to help more people hear better in both commercial and residential spaces. 

Top Reasons Why People Don’t Wear Hearing Aids [Infographic]

By | Hearing Assistance, Food for thought | No Comments

80% of people between the ages of 55 and 74 who could benefit from hearing aids don’t wear them, according to a study published in the International Journal of Audiology.

The reasons for not wearing hearing aids are many–they’re uncomfortable or even painful, they’re too expensive, they no longer work like they did at first, they make them feel old or embarrassed. These are real and valid reasons, but the consequences of not using them are not just a few missed sentences here and there. It could result in a decline in cognitive function, further reduction of hearing ability, even increased risk of slips and falls.  

Check out the infographic below with important facts and stats about hearing aids, and alternative hearing assistive devices

AudioFetch Infographic - World Hearing Day - Why People Don't Wear Hearing AidsSources:

 

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6 Ways to Protect Your Hearing [Infographic]

By | Hearing Assistance, Food for thought | No Comments

Once your hearing is gone, there’s no getting it back. 

Damage to your hearing–whether due to prolonged exposure to loud noises, an infection or illness, or medications–is irreparable. While somethings can’t be prevented, like the normal hearing loss that occurs with age, there are plenty of things you can do to Listen Responsibly and prevent or reduce hearing loss.

As part of our Happy New Ear campaign, we created the infographic below with important tips on protecting your hearing today, tomorrow and every day!

We’re also offering 20% off all AudioFetch products for February 2020. Just enter code HAPPYNEWEAR20 at checkout when purchasing a FetchExpress portable PA system online, or ask for the discount when speaking with us.*

6 Ways to Protect your Ears Infographic (1)

Sources:

https://www.earq.com/hearing-health/articles/9-ways-to-protect-your-ears 

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hearing_loss/infographic/

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/top-10-tips-to-help-protect-your-hearing/

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*Offer cannot be combined with other offers or discounts

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Facts About Hearing Loss [Infographic]

By | Food for thought, Hearing Assistance | No Comments

More than 466 million people worldwide suffer from some type of hearing loss according to the World Health Organization.

Over the next 30 years, that number is expected to nearly double thanks to louder and louder environments, age-related hearing loss, ear and other infections, and the use of ototoxic medicines, which adversely impact the way the inner ear functions.

Check out the infographic below with important facts and stats about hearing loss–how many people worldwide and in the US are affected, which communities are at a higher risk, and growth predictions for the decades ahead.

Hearing Loss Facts - AudioFetch Infographic

Sources:

 

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Watching Sports is Great for Your Health

By | Sports Bars, AudioFetch News, Business, Fitness Centers, Food for thought, Restaurants, streaming | No Comments

Sports fanatics everywhere rejoice! According to ScienceAlert, there’s research proving that watching sports is actually healthy for you.  

Vaughan Macefield, Professor of Integrative Physiology in the School of Medicine at University of West Sydney says, “We know that the sympathetic nervous system – which supplies the heart, sweat glands and blood vessels increases its activity during actual exercise, and now we have shown that it increases when you are watching a [runner] as if you were running yourself.”  

This means that your body gets a small workout just from watching a game. While watching your favorite team won’t replace real exercise, the research also proves that watching sports is an encouragement to get off the couch and break a sweat.

Watching your favorite team has psychological benefits as well. Sports psychologist William Wiener, PhD says that “People who root and are attached to their teams are less depressed than those who are uninvolved.”

Watching sports builds camaraderie with your friends which helps you live longer, builds identity with your community, and the entertainment factor is stress-relieving. Sports fans are also less lonely and have higher self-esteem. Best of all, watching sports with your partner can be good for your relationship (especially if your team wins!).   

So put on that face paint and join your friends at the local sports tavern for game day and have some healthy fun.

If you’d like to make your establishment an even better spot to catch any televised sporting event, contact us to learn about AudioFetch’s WiFi audio streaming equipment.

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Audio Streaming Could Save Lives in an Emergency

By | Uncategorized, Business, Churches, Education, Fitness Centers, Food for thought, Hearing Assistance, streaming | No Comments

In emergency situations it is vital that communication be clear and immediately accessible to all involved. Loud speakers can become muffled and may not be appropriate to use in every situation.

Hearing assistive streaming devices are an effective and useful alternate solution for efficient communication. In the event of an emergency, a communication system that streams audio over wifi can reach everyone in harm’s way through their smartphone via WiFi.  A password protected WiFi network can provide secure communications.

Following are five venues that could benefit from using a wireless audio streaming system in the event of an emergency:

Office Buildings

An office fire can quickly spread claiming multiple lives especially in a multi-level unit. Your office’s emergency coordinator can use a Personal PA System over WiFi to stream emergency instructions to employees on multiple floors. An added benefit is that this same system can provide multiple music channels to your team in order to increase their productivity.

Schools and College Campuses

Nobody wants to think about this kind of situation, but they’re in the headlines too often these days. A portable PA System that streams over wifi can provide teachers with a myriad of creative ways to take lessons out of the classroom, but it can also discreetly communicate emergency instructions to faculty, staff and students.

Warehouses and Factories

You may already be using a streaming solution to provide your team with music and other entertainment during work hours. This technology can also be used to make widespread announcements during an emergency, allowing your workforce to mobilize quickly and efficiently.

Hotels and Resorts

Extreme weather situations can ruin a vacation. A streaming solutions that can send instructions to your staff’s and guest’s smartphones, can help provide an excellent level of service to guests, despite the conditions outside.

Shopping Malls

In enclosed malls it can be easy to become disoriented when trying to escape an emergency situation. Plus, when you have masses of people in one space, it is vital to offer clear and accessible information and instructions. An audio streaming solution can broadcast directly to employee’s smartphones, providing them with instructions to help guide other staff and shoppers.

No matter the venue, with an audio streaming solution in place there’s one more tool at hand to make one-way communication clear and efficient for all involved. Communication is direct and widespread and the fear of unclear, unheard messages are no longer an issue when people can receive communication directly to their phone or tablet.  In the case of an emergency consider a plan that includes a broadcast system that you can rely on and trust.

If you would like to know more about Personal PA Systems or Audio Streaming Solutions, contact us today!

 

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The Top 3 Blogs of 2017

By | Food for thought, General, Hearing Assistance, streaming | No Comments

We had an incredible year in 2017! We shared a lot of information about audio solutions for all types of businesses, as well as innovative ideas and tips for using audio to benefit your business and your community. However, the below three blogs were our most read during 2017. Take another look at these helpful posts, perhaps you might read something you missed.

Build Community with an Outdoor Movie Screening

Looking for a perfect way to bring your community together in an entertaining and unique event? We have a solution to help you make it happen.

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How Audio Streaming Works

Local audio streaming over WiFi is an effective way to reach your patrons quickly, easily and often very personally. Learn how audio streaming works.

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A Better Solution to Hearing Loops

Considering installing a hearing loop system in your building? Wireless audio streaming may be a better solution for you and your guests. 

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Stay tuned for more great content in 2018 and let us know on our Facebook page if there are any topics you’d like us to cover. As always, if you have any questions about our audio streaming solutions, please contact us.

Happy new year from all of us at AudioFetch!

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3 Reasons Music Increases Productivity

By | Food for thought, Music | No Comments

In today’s workplace, an average employee is productive for only three hours, leaving many business owners searching for simple and inexpensive solutions to keep their teams focused. “Building friendly relationships creates a fertile ground for teamwork,” according to Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert. “That atmosphere engenders more creativity, as people innovate most when they feel supported and the work culture is upbeat and fun.” Keeping your employees smiling isn’t easy, but retention is definitely a money saver.

The cost of finding a new entry-level employee is 30% to 50% of annual salary, for the middle-level it increases to 150%, and for high-level it’s 400%! One solution to retaining strong employees is to keep them happy, and one easy way to keep them happy is to provide them with music. Here are our top 3 reasons why offering your team an internal music option could be just what your business needs:

1) Music Makes People Happy
Dissatisfied employees can cost up to $75 billion yearly. So, it pays (companies) to be happy. Music therapy is more effective than other therapy methods in curing depression. Music also increases breathing rate, and increased breathing is a sign of happiness. It even affects babies as early as five months old. On the other hand, for those that value crying, sad music may help them have a cathartic experience.

2) Music Relieves Stress
Stress costs companies $200 to $300 billion yearly, and music can prevent this. Music can have a tremendously positive effect on reducing stress hormones. When working in a fast-paced or deadline-orientated work environment, music can be just what the team needs to stay focused and relaxed.

3) Music Increases Cooperation
A Cornell University study found that music has an effect on our willingness to cooperate. The study found that upbeat or “pleasant” music made people more willing to cooperate, while unpleasant music had the opposite effect. If your workplace thrives on teamwork (and let’s face it, whose doesn’t?), music can be an inexpensive and effective tool in fostering more unity and increased productivity. The Harvard Business Review found that happiness increased productivity by an average 31%, appreciated sales by 37%, and tripled creativity.

In order to keep everyone humming, so-to-speak, you have to be able to offer your staff multiple music options at once. A wireless audio streaming system can bring more smiles to your team’s work life, and make you the boss of the year!

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Why Integrate AudioFetch into Your Smartphone App

By | Fitness Centers, Food for thought, Restaurants, Sports Bars | No Comments

When you’ve invested the time, money and resources to develop a custom app for your business, you want your customers to use it as often as possible! But offering other services at your venue, like wireless audio streaming, require the use of a second app, which can pull guests away from your app, limiting options for continuing to engage them while on premises. So we’ve come up with a great solution for this situation–integrate AudioFetch into your own app via SDK or API!

It’s an extremely simple process, and we’ve put together some instructions with our AudioFetch API & SDK Kit. But if you’re still a little unsure if it’s worth the quick setup, here are the top four reasons you should integrate AudioFetch with your app:

  1. More App Downloads

When guests want to use AudioFetch at your venue, they’ll have to download your app to do so, which they may not have found a reason to do in the past. This increases your downloads and provides ongoing opportunities for you to continue engaging guests.

  1. More Efficient for Customers

Keeping your customers happy should be your number one priority. Because happy customers equal happy profits.

One way to keep them happy is by making their experience as pleasant and simple as possible. When you integrate AudioFetch into your own app, they won’t have to download a new app and learn how to use it (although, AudioFetch couldn’t be simpler to use–just download the free app, open it, connect to wifi, select the channel, and audio streams automatically–even the most technology-challenged figure it out). It’s a simple, seamless experience that will make their visit to your business more enjoyable.

  1. Keep Them Engaged with Your Business

Since your guests will be opening your app on every visit to use AudioFetch, you have a captive audience. Use this opportunity to send promotional messages (e.g., “20% off at the cafe today only”) or alert them to upcoming events (e.g., “Trivia night on Wednesdays with half price drafts”). You can drive supplemental revenue and increase loyalty with this captive audience.

  1. Control Guest’s Experience

Most businesses want to reinforce their brand in every way possible while customers are at their place of business. By integrating AudioFetch into your own app, which has your logo and other branding elements throughout, you are able to fortify your brand and create a stronger, more consistent connection with the customers.

With these important benefits coupled with the ease of integration, there’s no reason not to integrate AudioFetch into your app. Get the simple instructions here and don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-877-661-228 if you have questions.

AudioFetch Blog Header - A Better Solution to Hearing Loops

A Better Solution to Hearing Loop Systems for Churches

By | Churches, Food for thought, General, Hearing Assistance | No Comments

Churches and houses of worship around the globe use inductive hearing loop technology for assistive listening, allowing their members to hear better during services. A hearing loop is a wire that hugs the perimeter of a room and is plugged into an amplifier. That amplifier creates a magnetic signal, which is then sent to the T-coil in a hearing aid, providing a clearer audio without interference.

Hearing loops have helped millions of people and are a great solution that does not require any additional devices for the listener, besides a hearing aid. But what about the people that don’t have or refuse to wear a hearing aid? And what about the business implications of installing wiring in every room?

There’s a better solution for churches and members alike. It’s wireless audio streaming. Below are four reasons that wireless audio streaming systems are better than hearing loop systems for assistive listening devices in churches:

  1. No Hearing Aid Required

Oftentimes, people don’t wear hearing aids when they should. The reasons are many:  They forgot it at home; it’s too uncomfortable to wear; it creates too much feedback; it’s too expensive to purchase; or it makes them feel old. Whatever the reasons, not wearing a hearing aid when you need one can lead to feelings of isolation and missing out on important conversations and connections.

With wireless audio streaming, all the listener needs is a smartphone or mobile device, which nearly everyone has already and never leaves home without, and headphones.

  1. No Wires, No Hassle

For businesses, the costs associated with installing wiring in every room and the time- and labor-intensive process of installing the loop wire are often prohibitive. A system that streams audio locally requires no wires, and installation involves simply plugging in the equipment, connecting to wifi and configuring channels. It really is that easy!

  1. Minimum Equipment

A single piece of equipment is required for local audio streaming systems. If you’d like expand coverage or connect with other audio sources, you can add a transmitter and receiver, but these are entirely optional.

  1. Lower Installation Cost and No Monthly Fees

Depending on the size and construction of the venue, installation of hearing loop systems can be difficult. You’ll need to pull up carpeting, tiling or baseboards (which may then need to be replaced), and metal in walls or floors can oftentimes create interference. Therefore, installation usually requires specialists, can be quite messy and takes some time.

Compare that to local audio streaming systems, which are essentially plug-and-play. And with a system like AudioFetch, you only pay for the equipment, we do not charge any recurring monthly usage fees.

Save time and money, and make it easier for your members to hear with wireless assisted listening devices for churches. Call us at 1-877-301-8639 or send a note today to learn more.

Want more tips and info on hearing assistance for churches? Check out our blog “How to Make Your Church More Accessible.”