The client

Founded in 1875, the Catholic University of Lille is a unique multidisciplinary institution in France that federates 5 Faculties, 20 Schools, Grandes Écoles and Institutes (EDHEC, IESEG, Junia, Icam, etc.), with more than 38,500 students in 300 training courses in 2022. The Catholic University of Lille also includes a hospital group (3 hospitals - 1,000 beds and places), 5 EHPADs and a Therapeutic Educational and Pedagogical Institute and 2 social innovation districts (850 beds and places). The largest private non-profit university in France, it is based on human and Christian values that have animated it since its inception. In close collaboration with its partners, it is an actor in the transitions of the contemporary world through its research projects, entrepreneurship, inclusion of the most vulnerable populations and energy and societal transition.

The challenge

The accessibility project “Agenda d'accessibilité Programmée” called for a contemporary assistive listening approach at Université Catholique de Lille. The solution needed to be user-friendly and hygienic as well as easily scalable by using a centralized hardware solution.

The solution

Twenty units of MobileConnect were deployed. With the “Bring-Your-Own-Device” concept, the audio stream is sent directly to the students’ smartphones making it easily accessible and intuitive to use. Persons with hearing loss do not have to ask for a specific receiver device and can sit wherever the university’s WiFi is available.

Inclusion is a matter of the heart for the Université Catholique de Lille. As part of the project “Prendre soin” (“Taking care”) led by the president-rector, twenty units of MobileConnect were installed at the university. It is the most important MobileConnect setup in France.

MobileConnect is deployed at the Université Catholique de Lille in all lecture halls and classrooms designed for more than fifty people. The installation extends over several buildings. As centralized solution for assistive listening, the twenty MobileConnect Stations are located in the server room. The MobileConnect Station works as an audio streaming server within the university’s network. It picks up an audio signal via Dante and bridges it to a LAN for being further distributed via WiFi to the personal smartphones of students running the MobileConnect App. The MobileConnect Manager is used as central management point for all MobileConnect Stations. It provides the flexibility to easily integrate any number of MobileConnect Stations into an existing audio setup and network environment.

A future-proof assistive and personal listening solution for universities

Decisive criterions for the choice of MobileConnect as assistive listening solution at Université Catholique de Lille were the ease of use for the end user, the high audio quality as well as the outstanding ergonomics of the MobileConnect App.

"The solution allows students to connect to the audio ecosystem of a room via WiFi directly with their smartphone. MobileConnect offers us great flexibility of use cases as it allows not only for assistive listening but also for other applications like live translation or audio re-transmission in other rooms with Dante. This flexibility is important to us as educational institution", says Aurelien Trancart, Multimedia Project Manager at Université Catholique de Lille. Vianney Delory, Multimedia Manager at Université Catholique de Lille, adds: “Users of the solution are autonomous. People who have a hearing implant or who have a disability that they don't want to show can scan the QR code at the entrance. This is a huge advantage compared to assistive listening via induction loops where users have to sit in the front rows. With MobileConnect, they can sit wherever they want in the room.“ Another main advantage of MobileConnect at Université Catholique de Lille is the hygiene aspect. Students can use their own smartphones to access the audio stream. Handing out and cleaning of rental devices for assistive listening is not necessary which minimizes hygiene risks.

The team at Université Catholique de Lille is very happy with their assistive listening solution and the collaboration with Sennheiser. “The new setup met our expectations exactly. The cooperation with Sennheiser is excellent. We have a very good contact and get quick and efficient response to problems or questions”, says Aurélien Trancart.

Learn more about MobileConnect.

Université Catholique de Lille Website

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