Church translation equipment: headsets, receivers or phones

Updated 18 October 2026

Church translation equipment carries an interpreter's voice to the people who need it: a transmitter, a receiver for each listener and a headset. It does not translate; a person does. This guide sets out what the equipment costs to buy or rent, what interpreters charge, what churches forget to count, and when guests' own phones can take the place of receivers. Every price was read on 18 October 2026 on the page linked beside it.

What the equipment does

• An interpreter, or a live translation service such as Livefy, turns the sermon into the other language. The equipment only carries the result.
• A transmitter sends the interpreter's microphone across the room, by radio (FM or digital) or by infrared light.
• A receiver and a headset for each listener, handed out before the service, collected after it, then charged or given new batteries, and cleaned.

Radio passes through walls, which suits an overflow room. Infrared stays inside the room, which keeps a private meeting private.

Buying a system

Each further receiver costs $275 source for a Williams Digi-Wave receiver, and $475.95 source for a Bosch Integrus infrared receiver, before batteries and headphones. Each language needs its own channel and its own interpreter.

Renting for an event

Renting suits a conference or a special service rather than every Sunday. LexiconUSA publishes its day rates:

• One-person system: from $195 source a day.
• Digi-Wave: from $325 source a day with 10 receivers, and $10 source a day for each further receiver.
• CRS-Standard, with a half booth for the interpreters: $535 source a day, and $375 source a day for each further language.
• CRS-Pro, with a full booth: $775 source a day on its own page (the catalogue page shows $875), and $575 source a day for each further language.

Shipping, deposits and lost receivers are extra and not published. The interpreter cost calculator adds up a conference day with booths, receivers and interpreters.

What interpreters charge

• The United Nations' daily rates for a conference interpreter in the United States: $836 (Group I) and $557 (Group II) source.
• Federal courts, from 1 October 2026: $617 source a full day and $349 a half day (up to four hours) for a certified interpreter.
• Interpreters and translators on a payroll earn a median of $28.93 source an hour (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025).
• Two per language. The professional standard (AIIC) is at least two interpreters per language, taking turns, because interpreting for a long stretch is tiring.

Many churches rely on a bilingual member who interprets for free. That costs no money, but the church depends on one person being there, and being well, every Sunday.

The costs churches forget

• Batteries, for receivers that run on them: $10 source for a pair of Williams AAA batteries. Some systems, the Retekess among them, come with a charging case instead.
• Hygiene: Williams headphone covers at $99 source for 100.
• Lost and broken receivers: the Retekess warranty leaves out accidental damage source, Listen's covers defects, not damage from misuse source, and we found no maker that publishes how many receivers go missing.
• Someone to hand them out: an hour of a volunteer's time every Sunday is worth $1,879 a year at $36.14 source an hour, the value Independent Sector puts on volunteer time.

Pocket translators and translating earbuds

Pocket translators and translating earbuds are sold as translation devices too. Most are built around a conversation or a meeting, and some makers now offer them to churches:

• Pocketalk S2: $299.95 source, which its maker calls a two-way translation device.
• Vasco Q1: $549 source. Its maker says up to 100 people can join a group conversation by QR code, for meetings and conferences.
• Timekettle X1: $699.99 source, for meetings of 3 to 20 people in up to five languages, with a presentation mode. Timekettle has a page for churches source, built around its translating earbuds.

Before choosing one for a church, ask how it takes the sound from the mixing board, and how the words reach the projector and the livestream.

Phones instead of receivers

Most guests already carry a receiver and a headset: their phone and their earphones. With Livefy open on a computer at the sound desk, the sermon is translated online as it is preached, and guests scan a QR code to read the captions on their own phone or hear a translated voice, with no app, no account and no church Wi-Fi. The same captions show on the projector for everyone else. Nothing is handed out, collected, charged or cleaned.

It is not a human interpreter. Like any live translation, it makes mistakes, most often with names, uncommon words and unclear sound. The fairest test is a whole service with your own priest or pastor.

If the church already owns church translation equipment, it need not go to waste: the audio feed sends the translated voice into the transmitter, where the interpreter's microphone would go, so the receivers keep working.

A first year, side by side

One language, 20 listeners and a service every Sunday for a year (52 Sundays), with the regular prices above. One paid interpreter is counted at the federal court half-day rate of $349; what a church pays its own interpreter will differ.

With a volunteer interpreter, the first year is the equipment alone, and from the second year on it costs little. The equipment rows leave out batteries, covers, lost receivers and the volunteer who hands them out. The setup guide names interfaces that suit, with their prices. The Livefy plan includes 10 hours of translation a month, enough for 13 services a month in one language, counting 45 minutes of translation each ($39 a month paid yearly).

Questions

What equipment do we need for church translation?

For an interpreter with headsets: a transmitter, a receiver and a headset for each listener, and a microphone for the interpreter. For live captions and voice: a laptop or desktop computer at the sound desk, a screen, and the guests’ own phones.

How much does church translation equipment cost?

To buy, from $1,239.99 for a budget radio system with 30 receivers to $6,385 for a professional one for up to 20 listeners, as shown on 18 October 2026. To rent, from $195 a day. The interpreter is on top.

Can phones replace translation receivers?

Yes. With Livefy, guests scan a QR code and read the captions or hear a translated voice on their own phone, with no app or account. Members without a phone read the captions on the screen.

Do translation receivers translate?

No. They carry an interpreter’s voice. With Livefy, the computer at the sound desk sends the sermon’s sound to Livefy, which translates it online.

Can we keep using the receivers we already have?

Livefy’s audio feed is made for that: it sends the translated voice into your transmitter, where the interpreter’s microphone would go.

First 4 hours free, no credit card. Then from $45 a month.

More guides: How to translate a sermon live · AI translation for church: how to introduce it to your congregation · How to run a bilingual church service · Church interpreter tips: how to interpret a sermon well · Live translation for Zoom, Google Meet and Teams church meetings · How to become a multilingual church · all church translation guides