Frequently ask questions about our Tour Guide Systems

Our Tour Guide Systems can be used for guided tours in a factory, visitor tours at museums, guided coach tours, outdoor and city walking tours, interpretation, simultaneous translation for weddings and other events, conferences, business meetings and much more. A tourguide system offers clear communication in different environments – maximum flexibility with minimum fuss.

Here are our most popular asked questions about our tour guide systems.

1. What is a tour guide system?

Tour Guide Systems bring visitors clear and intelligible communication via radio transmission during factory tours, travel & city tours, sports arenas, multi-language interpretation, audio description and other guided tours in challenging and noisy environments. 

2. Where is a tour guide system used?

Tour guide systems are portable and easy to use which means they can be used anywhere to overcome background noise at a factory, the need for discretion in a museum or the need for many people to hear what is being said, makes normal conversation difficult.

Tour guide systems are used to show visitors around a factory, for training staff where machinery noise makes it hard for trainees to hear their instructors, for staff meetings on the shop floor, or for safety inductions.

Tour guide systems are ideal for any situation in a factory where it is important to get the message across above the general factory background noise. The multi- channel feature allows several different tours or groups to operate at the same time without interfering with each other.

In visitor attractions for letting visitors know what they are experiencing. Tour guide systems are superb for any guided tour, indoors or out or even on a bus! Your visitors can hear your guide without being distracted by traffic noise. The system also means that the guide can talk to many visitors at once without having to shout. This is great for sensitive areas such as places of worship and other places of interest where raising ones voice is not the ‘done thing’.

In public meetings as an interpretation system. The interpreter can simply sit at the back of the room and whisper the translation into the microphone. Delegates wishing to hear the translation collect a receiver at the start of the meeting and listen in. Tour guide systems operate on different frequencies which means that several different languages can be catered for.

3. How can a tour guide system help me?

A tour guide system allows you to communicate effectively to a group of people, either large or small, overcoming irritating background noise, without having to shout. Your visitors will hear every word, will not lose interest or struggle to understand your message. Your guides will be able to run several tours a day without getting a sore throat, and without the frustration of having to repeat things so that everyone can hear. Your visitors will leave you having had a good experience, will remember their visit and appreciate that you are a professional organisation which places a strong emphasis on looking after their visitors. 

Using a tour guide system means your guides won’t have to shout so they will still be in good voice at the end of a busy day; your visitors will hear every word clearly which means they are far less likely to lose interest and will remember their experience favourably.

4. What types of tour guide systems are available?

All systems have a microphone for the tour guide and a number of receivers. Microphones can be handheld (which include the wireless transmitter in a single unit), or headworn connected to a belt-pack transmitter.

Receivers can be stethoset type, i.e. hanging down from the ears with a built-in wireless receiver or, a single earphone or headphone which is plugged into a belt-pack wireless receiver. There are also options for individual neck-worn loop receivers for hearing aid users, or the possibility of using custom ear-defender headsets in areas where hearing protection is mandatory.

We supply tourguide systems from carefully selected manufacturers such as Sennheiser, with the majority being licence exempt throughout Europe. We can help you choose the most appropriate system for your needs and budget, whether you have just a few visitors on occasional tours or you operate daily with multiple groups in continuous rotation – there is a system that’s best for you, talk to us.

5. How can members of my tour party ask questions?

With standard tour guide systems, the easiest way is to use a hand held microphone or transmitter and pass this to the person who wishes to ask the question – this way the whole tour group hears the question. Otherwise, the tour group leader can listen to the question and then repeat it for the whole party to hear. This works well for occasional questions.

Several of our tour guide systems offer a simple push-to-talk button on each receiver that allows the participating guest to talkback and broadcast a question to the tour party.

Interactive tours – when its desirable for your tour group to interact with each other, then consider a tourguide system with two-way audio that allow for any participant to join the discussion. These configurable systems suit small and large groups alike. Read more →

You can also hire a two-way tour guide system.

6. How many systems can I use together?

Each type of system operates independently of external networks and has a set number of channels that can operate in the same place simultaneously. While some systems operate up to four channels, the latest technology can now provide 30+ simultaneous channels, depending on the local environment & conditions (adjacent radio devices, wi-fi networks, DECT telephones, for examples). For larger events spread over a big site, careful planning can allow frequencies to be duplicated allowing many groups with fewer frequencies.

You can also use large numbers of receivers together as a single system, for example to provide interpretation at public meetings. Attendees have the choice of listening to the presenter direct or listening to an interpreter through their personal tourguide receiver.

7. Should you buy or hire?

Buying or hiring the system depends on how often you are likely to use the system. Most of our customers hire a system on two or three occasions before deciding buy the tour guide system. Read more information on whether to hire or buy a tour guide system from us.