JYP and HearCycle Bring Auracast Hearing Tech to DAY6's 10th Anniversary Concert
21 hearing-impaired fans streamed DAY6's Seoul concert directly to their hearing aids via Auracast. TWICE and Stray Kids shows are next.
JYP Entertainment and non-profit HearCycle brought hearing-assistance technology to DAY6's 10th debut anniversary concert at Seoul Olympic Gymnastics Arena (KSPO DOME) on July 3. Over four days, 21 hearing-impaired audience members received Auracast service.
Auracast captures only the performer's voice and instrument sounds, transmitting them straight to a listener's hearing aids while cutting out surrounding noise. It works on a principle similar to noise-cancelling technology. South Korea's hearing-impaired population stands at 3 million as of 2026.
The system had its first K-pop trial at DAY6 member Won-pil's solo concert in May. It was rough. "There were really many issues during the pilot concert in May," said Woo Seung-ho, HearCycle's representative. "There were no problems until rehearsal, but problems started right when the concert began. It was caused by the light sticks that fans were holding." Fan light sticks run on Bluetooth, which created interference with Auracast transmission and cut the signal. The team doubled the number of transmitters to two and moved hearing-impaired attendees to seats closer to the console.
Woo noted that "K-pop concerts have far more variables and are more complex compared to classical or other concerts."
For Eun-a (pseudonym, 28), who attended the July 3 concert with a hearing aid, the fix worked. "The moment I connected Auracast, all surrounding noise was blocked and only the concert sound came through my hearing aid," she said. She'd wanted to hear the members' comments, vocals, and instrument performances clearly for a long time—reviews from other fans had made her curious. This concert delivered much of what she'd been missing. ("A world without music is hard to imagine," she had said before the show.)
Kim Mi-kyung, JYP Entertainment's Sustainable Management Team Leader, described the initiative as connecting "the artists' will to communicate with more fans through music to the concert accessibility expansion project."
JYP plans to roll Auracast out at TWICE concerts on July 10–12 and at Stray Kids concerts running July 25 through August 2.
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