Upgrades completed at 50 smart shelters

'Bus arrival announcements now clearer'

Seongdong-gu District Mayor Yu Bo-hwa (far left) tries out a bus arrival announcement at a demonstration of the upgraded hearing loop system at a Seongdong-type smart shelter on Sept. 17. [Seongdong-gu]
Seongdong-gu District Mayor Yu Bo-hwa (far left) tries out a bus arrival announcement at a demonstration of the upgraded hearing loop system at a Seongdong-type smart shelter on Sept. 17. [Seongdong-gu]

Seoul's Seongdong-gu announced Wednesday that it has completed upgrades to the hearing loop systems at 50 of its Seongdong-type smart bus shelters, making bus arrival announcements more accessible to all riders.

A hearing loop is an assistive audio system that helps people using hearing aids or cochlear implants receive voice information — such as bus arrival announcements — more clearly. Seongdong-gu introduced the technology at its smart shelters through Seoul's "Testbed Seoul" project in 2022 and has operated hearing loops at 47 locations since November 2023.

The latest upgrade replaced equipment at the existing 47 shelters and added the system to three new locations. The district retained the telecoil (T-coil) mode for existing hearing aid and cochlear implant users while adding Bluetooth audio, a next-generation wireless voice transmission technology, extending access to anyone using standard Bluetooth earphones.

After completing the upgrades, the district held an on-site demonstration on Sept. 17, inviting residents with hearing impairments as well as the general public to test the next-generation wireless audio technology and assess its ease of use firsthand.

At the event, both telecoil hearing aid users and residents wearing standard Bluetooth earphones confirmed they could hear bus arrival announcements clearly inside the shelters, without interference from surrounding noise.

Seongdong-gu District Mayor Yu Bo-hwa, who attended the demonstration, said the district would "continue delivering warm governance that makes a real difference in residents' lives — carefully identifying invisible inequalities like this one and using technology to ensure everyone has equal access to daily life."


ikson@heraldcorp.com