It's a phrase that's been around for years to mean "poor quality" (https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/recorded-with-a-potato). One theory behind the term is that the recording device was so bad/low-tech, it could be powered by a potato battery.
Yes, it's amazing how often hearing assistance systems are either unusable (due to bad sound, e.g. hiss or distortion or volume issues) or just flat-out don't work here in the UK.
Not a bad option for a lecture theatre, but it's worth noting that IR is line-of-sight and can be easily interrupted by people moving or the receiver twisting as you shift position. Multiple emitters can help with some of this, but there are still challenges.
There are wifi-based systems (like Sennheiser MobileConnect or Williams WAVECast), and my experience has been universally awful. The latency is so high that if you have any ambient hearing you get an echo that makes sound impossible to understand.
If you're ever considering installing one of these systems, please think again. Or at least trial it with a real situation, so you know what the experience will be like for the users.
It's a chicken-and-egg thing. Not many devices have it, so not many venues install it. Not many venues have it (perhaps because they've invested in other systems), and there's no pressure to change until there are many people wanting to use it.
FWIW, it is also possible to get standalone induction receivers that you can plug headphones into, which can be useful for "is this working" checks (for example https://www.ampetronic.com/products/ilr3-audio-induction-loo...). However you really need someone with hearing aids to tell if it's useful or not.
I visit the theatre a lot: ~50 West End visits in 2025, plus several regional venues. It's amazing how many times I've had to abandon the hearing assistance system because it doesn't work well... too quiet, distorted, delayed, poor balance between voices and instruments. Sometimes it just isn't functional at all, and nobody's noticed.
While I'm on the subject: saying "it's a loud show, you'll be able to hear fine" is a bit like telling someone who's short-sighted but has no glasses that "it's a bright show, you'll be able to see". It's not just about volume, but clarity and understanding.
Hearing aids are at a frustrating crossroads at the moment, IMO. In my experience, a lot of the recent hearing aids don't seem to support induction loops. It often seems to be a choice between that or Bluetooth... and Auracast isn't ready yet.
I've had Phonak bilateral hearing aids for 5 years, and Starkey unilateral for ~5 years before that. None of those have supported induction loops.
> If all you want to send is an array of integers, why should you have to put it into a struct first?
If you're sure that's all you'll ever have to do, then sure. But unless you're 100% certain that the protocol will never evolve further, having a more complex structure allows it to change in a gradual way.
I've been using Ctrl-[ instead of Esc for so long that I forget that a lot of people don't know about it. This may not be convenient on non-English keyboard layouts.