When members can’t follow the sermon, they quietly stop coming. Here’s what works in sanctuaries, what it costs, and what to bring to your committee.
Short answer
For most sanctuaries, we recommend a hearing loop for members whose hearing aids or cochlear implant processors have a telecoil, plus Auracast™ broadcast audio from the same sound feed for phones, earbuds and newer hearing aids, installed now or planned as an upgrade. Most loops take one to two days on site, with the pews left in place.
A typical sanctuary, at a glance
Synagogues, mosques and temples have the same rooms and face the same choices, so everything on this page applies to them too.
Churches rarely call about a regulation. They call because someone stopped coming: a longtime member who moved closer to the front, then started missing the sermon, then started missing Sundays. Hearing aids work across a table, but in a sanctuary the pastor’s voice crosses 30 or 40 feet of echoing room first.
A hearing loop skips the room. It sends the sound from your mixer as a magnetic signal that hearing aids and cochlear implant processors pick up through their telecoil, a small receiver built into many of them. No app, nothing to borrow, essentially no delay. Auracast, the Bluetooth broadcast that compatible phones, earbuds and hearing aids can join, reaches the people a loop can’t. Every loop quote we write includes an Auracast line.
Usually not. Religious organizations and the places of worship they control are exempt from Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. §12187), the part that covers businesses and other places open to the public. Building codes are a separate matter: many have their own assistive listening requirements for new buildings, additions and major renovations, and how they reach places of worship varies by state and town. If you’re planning work, ask your architect or building department early.
So a church can size its loan receivers to its own members. We still suggest a small set, and many churches size it like the ADA table as good practice. Our ADA guide explains whether churches have to provide assistive listening. The stronger reason to act is your own congregation. General information, not legal advice.
For most congregations, both. The loop serves members whose hearing aids or implant processors have a telecoil, as many older members’ do. Auracast adds people with compatible phones, earbuds and newer hearing aids, and it’s a sensible replacement for an aging FM or infrared system.
| Hearing loop | Auracast broadcast | Our defaultBoth, from one feed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it serves | Hearing aids and implant processors with a telecoil; anyone with a loop receiver and headphones | Compatible Android phones and earbuds, hearing aids that support Auracast, loan receivers | Everyone in both columns |
| What the listener does | Switches to the telecoil program | Picks your church’s broadcast in a phone menu or hearing-aid app | Whatever their device supports |
| Delay | Essentially none | A few tens of milliseconds | None on the loop |
| Work in the sanctuary | Wire under carpet, along pews or on the ceiling below | A transmitter on the wall and a cable from the mixer | The loop work plus about a day |
| Narthex and overflow | Only where looped | Wherever the signal reaches, or with another transmitter | Auracast covers them |
| Today’s limits | Needs a telecoil or a loop receiver | IPhones can’t join on their own yet; most hearing aids in use don’t support it | Each covers the other’s gaps |
As of October 2026, iPhones can’t join an Auracast broadcast on their own, and most hearing aids people wear don’t support Auracast yet, though every major maker now sells models that do. Already have a working loop? Keep it, and read about adding Auracast to an existing loop. More on choosing between a loop, Auracast or both and how we design Auracast systems.
A committee needs something to look at before it approves even a visit. So the first step is free: send a seat count and a few photos of the sanctuary and the sound desk, and we send back a written budget range, with and without Auracast, that you can put in front of the committee. Our one-page sheet for church committees explains loops and Auracast in plain language, with a box for your own room’s numbers.
If the committee wants a firm price, the next step is a site visit. You get written findings with a recommended approach, a coverage preview labeled as a model prediction, and a budget range, plus a video call with your committee of up to 30 minutes. A fixed-price proposal follows at no charge, always with an Auracast option, and the visit fee comes off the installation.
If you collect several quotes, ask every bidder the same questions:
Have a hearing loss yourself?
If you’re asking your church, library or residence to add a loop, we’re glad to help by text, email or a captioned video call, and we can join a committee meeting by video or in person when we’re nearby. Text 847-212-4216, email dave@equalaccessaudio.com, or see how to ask your venue.
Most simple sanctuaries, up to about 300 seats in straightforward construction, land at $3,500–6,000 for the loop, installed, including design, the commissioning report, signage and training. Our usual recommendation, the loop plus Auracast from the same feed, starts at from $6,000. Loan receivers are listed separately, because most churches aren’t bound by the ADA count and can choose how many they want.
| Project | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Simple sanctuary or hall, up to about 300 seats | $3,500–6,000 |
| Our default: loop plus Auracast from one feed, simple sanctuary or hall up to about 300 seats | from $6,000 |
| Added loop zone: choir, fellowship hall or overflow room | from $2,000 |
| Large church, phased array or high-metal building | $9,000–25,000+ |
| Auracast added to a working loop | from $2,500 |
| Auracast on its own, with a few loan receivers (no ADA-size fleet needed for most churches) | from $2,500, plus receivers |
| Loan receivers, if you want them (equipment street prices) | Loop: $160–310 each · Auracast: $335–377 each |
| Site visit or Loop Health Check visit | $500 |
| A free written range first; a fixed-scope written quote after a site visit. Every loop quote shows the Auracast option. | |
Concrete or steel, saw-cutting, a balcony, a band on the platform and very wide rooms push a project higher. See every price range and what drives it.
Church loops are often paid for with a memorial gift or a designated donation. Local Lions and Sertoma clubs have helped fund loops in their communities, and the Center for Hearing Access keeps a list of funding sources for hearing loops. You can also phase the work: main floor now, balcony or Auracast later, designed up front so nothing is redone. If your committee sets next year’s budget this fall, tell us when you book a visit, and we’ll hold the visit credit for 180 days instead of 90. The IRS §44 credit and §190 deduction are aimed at businesses; ask your tax advisor.
Yes, with the right design. Pews, balconies, slabs and old floors don’t rule out a loop; they decide where the wire goes, how many zones you need and what the job costs.
In plain English: (1) the main floor gets one loop, under the carpet or (2) on the basement ceiling below it. (3) The balcony and (4) the choir get zones of their own. (5) One Auracast transmitter can often cover the whole room.
Fixed pews tell us exactly where people sit. The wire runs in the aisles and along the pew rows; on stepped floors, under the pews or in the back corner of each step. We design for a seated listening height of about 4 ft (1.2 m).
Over a basement, the wire often doesn’t need to be in the sanctuary at all: on the basement ceiling, about 1.5 ft below the floor, it serves the pews above. On a slab, we lay copper tape under carpet or cut shallow channels. Read how we design a loop around your floor and the metal in it.
Steel in a concrete floor soaks up the loop’s signal, most of all the high frequencies that carry consonants, so speech turns muffled rather than just quiet. We test the metal where we can and, when we must estimate, estimate a little high: guessing low can mean costly rework.
Rule of thumb from our design software (we measure on site): standard reinforced concrete, about 3–6 dB at 1 kHz and 9–18 dB at 5 kHz. Timber: 0–2 dB.
A main floor loop isn’t designed for people 12 or 15 feet above it, so a balcony gets its own zone, with its own metal-loss figure. A choir loft can be an added zone. With a worship band, we keep the field off the platform, because guitar and bass pickups can hear a loop; the fix is the layout, not less volume.
Less than most committees expect. A sanctuary loop typically takes one to two days on site, three or four with a balcony, saw-cutting or a phased array, and Auracast adds about a day. The pews stay put. If your carpet is staying, we lift and relay a narrow strip along the wire path, or route along the pews or on the ceiling below. From least to most invasive:
Every circuit is tested before anything covers it. In David’s words: “If you seal in a mistake, it will be a disaster to fix.”
The loop and any Auracast transmitter take their sound from your mixer, so your sound volunteer matters as much as the wire.
A fellowship hall can get its own small loop; an overflow room suits Auracast. If you livestream, that mix is often a better feed than the main mix, which may leave out the organ or choir because they’re already loud in the room.
You can, and in a small room it may work well. A consumer transmitter costs about $60–160. What it won’t do is plan coverage for a full sanctuary, make sure hearing aids can join, give everyone else a way in, or show that anyone can hear it. When a setup falls short, it’s usually one of these:
Upgrading a do-it-yourself setup doesn’t mean throwing it out: we fix the on-air settings and the feed, add what the room needs, and walk-test it. Describe what isn’t working
A loop nobody knows about doesn’t help anyone. At handover you get:
Never locked in
Standard manufacturer equipment, full as-built drawings and a commissioning report at handover, so any qualified installer can service your system.
New carpet, a renovation or a replaced mixer is the usual reason a working loop goes quiet; a yearly health check for your loop catches it. If yours has already stopped, start with why hearing loops fail and how we fix them.
Usually, yes. Wood takes very little out of a loop’s signal, far less than concrete. The catch is movement: old boards that flex can fatigue copper tape over the years. Over a basement, we often run the wire on the basement ceiling; otherwise along the pews or where the floor is solid.
The pews, no. If your carpet is staying, we lift and relay a narrow strip along the wire path, or route along the pews or on the ceiling below. Saw-cutting is only for bare tile or concrete, and new carpet is the ideal moment to loop.
Yes. Members without a telecoil can borrow a small receiver and listen with headphones. Auracast adds compatible Android phones, earbuds and hearing aids that support Auracast. As of October 2026, iPhones can’t join an Auracast broadcast on their own, so iPhone users can join through the app for hearing aids that support Auracast, or borrow a venue receiver. That’s why we recommend both systems.
Usually replace it. FM and infrared depend on members asking for a receiver, and many never do. Auracast is the natural successor: members with compatible devices use their own, and a few loan receivers with neckloops cover everyone else. If many members wear hearing aids, add a loop at the same time.
Yes. Almost any mixer with a spare output can feed a loop and an Auracast transmitter. We set up a dedicated assistive listening send, make sure recalling a scene doesn’t erase it, label it, leave a one-page operating card at the desk, and train your volunteers at handover.
The first call and a written budget range from your photos are free. A site visit is $500 within about an hour’s drive of Buffalo Grove, or anywhere on a day we’re already in your area; longer trips are quoted before you book. The full fee comes off the installation, repair or upgrade if you go ahead within 90 days, or within 180 days for grant-funded and board-approved projects when we agree it at booking. Most of our recent direct work has been in Wisconsin, from Madison to the Milwaukee suburbs, and in central Illinois. A day we’re already in your area puts us in your building on the same terms as a Chicago suburb. See visit fees by distance and where we work.
Mostly, it keeps itself working. We hand over the commissioning report, as-built drawings and settings, and use standard manufacturer equipment any qualified installer can service. Trouble usually follows new carpet, a renovation or a reset mixer; an annual check catches it.
A rough seat count and a few photos of the sanctuary, the sound desk and any existing equipment are enough for a free budget range. You’ll hear back from David within 2 business days.