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The Society for Creative Anachronism is dedicated to the research and re-creation of pre-17th-century arts, skills, combat, and culture through hands-on education, events, and community participation.
The Kingdom of the Middle, commonly known as the Midrealm, is one of the 20 Kingdoms of the SCA. Throughout the year, the Midrealm holds formal Courts where the reigning Royalty recognizes members with awards, shares announcements, and strengthens the bonds of the community.
Midrealm hosts at least 12-18 Courts a year in fairgrounds, camps, lodges, and older buildings; all venues with unpredictable acoustics where sound echoes and doesn’t carry well. As a result, participants with hearing loss were often unable to follow the ceremonies.
They tried several fixes. For instance, an ASL interpreter and signage helped but fell short for those who developed hearing loss later in life and don’t know ASL. A speaker system created an echo and sacrificed the opt in benefit. They needed a reliable, portable solution that didn’t depend on venue internet or disrupt the immersive medieval atmosphere that their community values.
After hearing about ListenWIFI from the SCA East Kingdom, Midrealm built a custom portable system around the LW-110-02 ListenWIFI 2-Channel WiFi Audio Server, paired with a microphone, audio interface, and dedicated wireless access point to create a fully self-contained private network. No venue internet needed. A dedicated ALS team travels with the royalty year-round, handling setup and one-on-one onboarding at every event.
The system is housed in a compact rack kit built for quick setup by volunteer staff. It also includes optional battery support so the system can run even in venues without reliable shore power. Attendees use their own smartphones and earbuds to listen via the ListenWIFI app, which has been customized with Midrealm’s branding. Those with Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids or cochlear implants can stream audio directly to their devices.
There has been a great community response to Midrealm’s ListenWIFI system. Participants with hearing loss can now hear clearly from anywhere in the venue. The team has received many personal stories about how much the system has meant to people.
One of these stories really stands out. A woman with hearing loss onboarded the day the system went live. She said that thanks to this assistive listening system, she was finally able to hear her daughter speak on stage clearly for the first time.
Attendees without hearing loss have embraced it as well, allowing for clear understanding in challenging spaces. And because there is no visible hardware on the audience side, the system is virtually invisible to those who don’t use it. For a community built around historical immersion, that subtlety matters.
Word has spread beyond Midrealm, with the system now requested across multiple states. An upcoming two-week event in Pennsylvania expecting 10,000 to 12,000 attendees will feature the system for opening and closing ceremonies.
The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), founded in 1966, is an international nonprofit with over 30,000 members dedicated to researching and recreating the arts, skills, and culture of the pre-17th-century world. Members participate in tournaments, royal courts, feasts, and a wide range of historical crafts and disciplines across 20 regional kingdoms worldwide. One of those kingdoms is the Kingdom of the Middle, known as Midrealm, which covers Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, and parts of Kentucky, Iowa, and Ontario.
