Clemens-Krauss Strasse, SALZBURG, Oct. 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LiveVoice, an Austria-based live audio platform, today reported adoption across international sports events and stadiums, where organizers use the platform to deliver audio description, live translation and commentary straight to audiences’ own smartphones. Stadiums, arenas and organizers use LiveVoice for three things: audio description for sports events for blind and visually impaired fans, multilingual press conferences, and live audio of sports commentary. Fans need only a phone and headphones, so venues don't have to hand out, collect or maintain receivers. LiveVoice is in use at Champions League press conferences, HBL matches, and at the Red Bull Ring, which hosts Formula 1 and MotoGP race weekends.
At the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, fans at Formula 1 and MotoGP race weekends follow live commentary on their own phones through LiveVoice, with live translation for international visitors.
Sports is one part of a wider base. Across sports venues, churches, conferences and guided tours, LiveVoice reports more than 5,000 clients, more than 200,000 events and more than 850,000 app downloads in over 100 countries.
How LiveVoice Delivers Audio Description and Live Translation in Stadiums and Arenas
LiveVoice is a cloud-based platform that turns smartphones into personal live audio receivers. An audio describer, interpreter or commentator speaks into a microphone, and LiveVoice streams that audio to every connected phone in the venue over Wi-Fi or mobile networks such as 4G and 5G. Fans join through a link, QR code or access code and listen through their own headphones. Because the audio isn't tied to a seat or an installed receiver system, a fan can sit anywhere in the stadium.
The person speaking doesn't have to be in the building. A describer or interpreter can work from a booth or press area at the venue, or from anywhere else with a video and audio feed of the event, and LiveVoice delivers their voice to the audience either way. Several channels can run at once. And on long events, interpreters take turns using the hand-over function, so listeners keep listening without a break.
Audio description at the Handball-Bundesliga
Audio describer Peter Lomb, who trains audio describers for the Handball-Bundesliga (HBL), brought LiveVoice into the league's matches himself. He was looking for a tool that needed no dedicated hardware, little setup and manageable costs, and found it in LiveVoice.
Lomb now describes matches live through LiveVoice, and blind and visually impaired fans follow every play on their own phones. They no longer register in advance, borrow a device or sit in a reserved seat. They buy a ticket like anyone else, sit wherever they like and join with a link or QR code.
"It quickly became clear to me that LiveVoice was the right tool to offer and develop audio description at as many clubs as possible," Lomb told Stadionwelt. "The fact that visually impaired fans use and praise the app so much is the best confirmation."
Word travels fast where the service runs. Blind and visually impaired fans form a close network and let each other know which matches will be described, and people who used to stay home now come to the arena. LiveVoice audio description also runs at the Biathlon World Cup, where thousands of fans line the course.
Multilingual press conferences
International matches bring journalists who speak many languages. LiveVoice provides live translation of press conferences straight to journalists' own smartphones, as it does at Champions League matches. The interpretation can come from human interpreters or AI translation, depending on the languages and the complexity of the press conference. Organizers set up one channel per language and share access with a QR code or link, and journalists don't need a receiver or headset from the organizer. Live subtitles can run alongside the audio.
Live commentary audio at the Red Bull Ring
At the Red Bull race track in Spielberg, Austria, LiveVoice plugs into the live audio of the race commentary. Visitors at Formula 1 and MotoGP race weekends can follow the commentary on their own phones and headphones. Translation for international visitors is offered through AI subtitles. The same setup has been used at UFC and lets stadiums carry other live audio to fans' phones, including guided stadium tours.
For venues, the smartphone approach removes the cost and effort of buying, renting and maintaining receivers. Nothing has to be handed out, collected, charged or cleaned between events. Adding a language or a second audio description channel doesn't require new equipment. LiveVoice states that replacing traditional interpretation hardware can lower costs by up to 80%.
"Every fan should be able to follow the game, whether they can't see the action, don't speak the language or just want the commentary in their ear," said Johannes Wigand, founder of LiveVoice. "In the Handball-Bundesliga, a link on a fan's own phone replaced a whole system of registration, devices and assigned seats. That's the model we bring to press conferences and race tracks too."
About LiveVoice
LiveVoice GmbH operates an AI powered cloud-based live audio platform for events, stadiums and arenas, used for audio description, AI translation, simultaneous interpretation, live subtitles, guided tours and silent conferencing. Audiences listen through the LiveVoice app or a web browser on their own devices. The company was founded by Johannes Wigand and is based in Salzburg, Austria.
Journalists at a Champions League press conference follow remarks in their own language as LiveVoice delivers live translation straight to their smartphones.
Press Inquiries
Johannes Wigand
hello [at] livevoice.io
https://livevoice.io/en
