Software built by the installer who uses it
Hearing Loop Designer and BroadcastPlan Pro started as tools for David’s own jobs. Here’s what each does, how it shows up in our proposals, and how to try it.
Why an installer builds software
Hearing Loop Designer and BroadcastPlan Pro began as fixes for problems David kept meeting on job sites, after more than 15 years of installing, commissioning and troubleshooting hearing loops.
The problems were practical. Drawings an installer couldn’t follow without phoning the designer. Metal loss guessed instead of tested. Drivers sized from optimistic spec sheets. Materials lists that left out the adhesive tape, so the crew bought exactly what the list said and came up short. Auracast™ plans drawn for an empty room that dropped out once people sat down. Each one became a feature: dimensioned drawings, a test-loop wizard, driver sizing by current and voltage, complete materials lists, and coverage modeled with people in the room.
David judges the output the way an installer would: by the printed drawing. Are the wires separated, the crossovers clear, the arrows pointing the way the cable is pulled? If a competent AV or electrical installer who is new to loops can’t follow it, it isn’t finished.
The rule David holds the software to, in his words:
“Probably the most important thing in this whole program is that it will always give right answers.”
David Harmon, on Hearing Loop Designer
It’s a goal, and the software is checked the way David checks a loop: against known answers. Small test loops he models routinely, and room sweeps where the field’s ripple has to shrink as a phased array gets denser, are how errors get caught. Then comes the second rule, the one this whole site runs on: the model is precise, the field is not. A prediction plans a system. Measurement proves it. More about David and how we work.
Hearing Loop Designer
Hearing Loop Designer is browser-based software for modeling and planning professional hearing loop systems to IEC 60118-4. It predicts the magnetic field a layout will produce at your listening height, sizes the driver, and produces the drawings and paperwork an installer needs.
- Field-strength simulation in plan, cross-section and 3D views, referenced to 400 mA/m, with the share of the listening area inside ±3 dB
- Eight loop layouts: perimeter (with optional cancellation loops), figure-8, standard and optimized phased arrays, an ultra-low-spill array, two pew arrays for fixed seating, and ad-hoc arrays with movable wires
- Metal loss from an estimate by construction type, or from a six-step test-loop wizard with readings at 100 Hz, 1 kHz and 5 kHz
- Driver selection from a multi-brand catalog, sized by current and voltage with the feeder cable included
- A design report; installation drawings with every wire dimensioned and single-phase sheets; a materials list; site-survey and metal-loss test sheets with a 50-item site checklist; a pre-filled conformity record for commissioning results; and DXF files for CAD
- Basic and Advanced modes, and nine interface languages
It’s built for loop installers, AV integrators and manufacturers’ design teams. Accounts are set up by request; there’s no self sign-up, so ask us for access. It’s the same tool behind the hearing loops we design for venues.
A design-stage tool
Hearing Loop Designer predicts; it doesn’t prove. Installed performance is verified by commissioning measurements in the finished room.
Request Hearing Loop Designer access
BroadcastPlan Pro
BroadcastPlan Pro plans Auracast assistive listening from the first site visit to handover. It works out how many transmitters a room needs and where they go, counts the ADA receivers, and records the walk test that shows the system works. Seven steps, in the order an installer works:
- Site: the floor plan, walls and materials
- Listeners: where people sit, and how full the room gets
- Transmitters: how many, where they mount, and at what power
- Sound and network: the audio feed, Dante or analog, and Wi-Fi neighbors
- Receivers and proposal: the ADA receiver count with neckloops, and a proposal
- Commission: a stop-by-stop walk sheet for the occupied room
- Handover: join cards, signs and the record the venue keeps
Coverage is modeled with wall losses, one or two reflections and measured body loss (about 10 dB for one person in the path, 15 dB for two), with the transmitter at a planning power of +20 dBm in North America, the highest Bluetooth power class, and a lower setting for the EU and UK. A Quick room path takes a one-transmitter job to a proposal in a few steps. Broadcast Codes for private rooms are never stored. It’s a planning-grade model, not a promise, which is why our Auracast systems are always walk-tested in the occupied room.
Anyone can use the free guest workspace, no account needed, and the 12-article Learn library is open to all.
Open the free guest workspace at broadcastplanpro.com
Read the Learn library at broadcastplanpro.com
| Hearing Loop Designer | BroadcastPlan Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Plans | Hearing loops, to IEC 60118-4 | Auracast broadcast assistive listening |
| Predicts | Magnetic field at listening height, ±3 dB coverage, spill | 2.4 GHz coverage in an occupied room |
| Main outputs | Drawings, materials list, design report, DXF | Proposal, ADA receiver count, walk-test record, join cards |
| Built for | Loop installers, integrators, manufacturers | Installers and integrators, from one room to arenas |
| How to try it | Accounts by request | Free guest workspace |
How the software shows up in our projects
Our design proposals include a model of your room from one of these tools, labeled “Model prediction: Hearing Loop Designer, not a field measurement” or the BroadcastPlan Pro equivalent. At handover we measure the real system and set the two side by side. When they differ, the difference tells us something about the building. A seat that reads 3 dB below the model is a finding to explain, not a footnote.
Most differences are small. A large one usually means something the model wasn’t told: steel in a floor, a beam over a row of seats, a ceiling grid, or seating that moved during design. We find the cause, correct what can be corrected, and record the final readings, so the report holds one final version of the truth. The same tools produce the paperwork: Hearing Loop Designer’s drawings and materials list go to whoever installs, and BroadcastPlan Pro’s walk sheet becomes the Auracast record you keep. See what a commissioning report shows.
For installers outside the Midwest: remote design review
We install across the Midwest, but a design review doesn’t need a site visit. Send the drawings, room dimensions, construction details and the proposed loop layout or transmitter plan, for any brand of equipment. We model it in the same tools and send back a written review with findings ranked by risk and specific fixes. A single room is $450; a complex room or a multi-zone Auracast system is $750. How design reviews and commissioning work for integrators, and our full price guide.
For manufacturers and distributors
Both tools are available for licensing, including as a separate workspace with your own product catalog and branding, so your dealers design with your equipment. If you make loop drivers, Auracast transmitters or receivers and want them modeled accurately, we’d like to hear from you.
Want a second set of eyes on a design?
Send the drawings and a few lines about the room. David replies within 2 business days with a scope and a price.
- Loop and Auracast designs, any brand
- Written findings and specific fixes
- Remote, wherever you are