New Teaching Models &
Microphone Types

NEW TEACHING MODELS

AV leaders are tasked with enabling fully inclusive learning within a new teaching landscape:

Remote learning and lecture capture

High-quality audio must support lecture capture and enable lessons to be transmitted via a video conference for remote learning. This audio clarity is important in a learning environment because intelligibility contributes to how much knowledge students retain, wherever they’re joining a class from. Lecture capture applications can be integrated with networked audio technology.

Social distancing

With social distancing remaining a requirement in the classroom, a voice lift system can help to keep discussion seamless between the students in the room itself and with remote learners. Voice lift amplifies the voices of people in one part of the room just enough so that students in other parts of the room can hear them clearly, no matter how far apart they are seated. While it’s possible to use standard table microphones with a voice lift system, ceiling microphones are almost always preferred.

New room sizes

Teaching spaces are expanding to accommodate social distancing. A minimum room size of 40 feet by 40 feet, with at least 25 feet between talker and listener, is a good starting point when considering voice lift technology. A Microflex Array ceiling array microphone can support a camera tracking system that triggers the camera to focus on the person who is talking.

WHICH MIC IS RIGHT?

Whether you’re looking to replace old gooseneck mics that limit lecturers’ mobility, or to swap overhead mics hanging from a cable for new generation array mics to improve sound quality, there is plenty of choice.

WHAT’S THE OPTION	WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR?	WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES?
Permanently installed, overhead mics — ceiling or linear arrays	Large teaching spaces with interactivity between teachers and students (in-room students, local and remote students). Overhead mics can be divided into zones for voice lift applications.	Fixed mics resist tampering or removal by students or staff. Sound reinforcement ensures that all students can hear the instructor.
Self-contained mobile solution with a mic and speaker for each student	Great for rooms without an installed PA system.	Students can be socially distanced in a room yet still talk with and hear in-room and remote students and teachers.
Wireless mics on tables	Students can be socially distanced.	Flexibility for arranging different room configurations in the same space.
Podium mics	Great sound capture for teacher in a fixed position.	Close miking ensures in-person and remote students will hear the teacher’s voice.

YOU’VE CAPTURED THE SOUND; NOW OPTIMIZE IT

Software-based digital signal processing (DSP) is another factor that should be considered. For example, Shure’s IntelliMix® Room Audio Processing Software is designed to help ensure the audio signal is crystal clear with:

Echo cancellation

An echo canceller in the classroom hears both the signal being picked up by the room microphones and the incoming audio being sent to the room speakers. When it determines that the signal being sent out is the same signal that came in, it electronically cancels it so that the signal does not transmit back to the talker‘s speakers, thus cancelling the echo.

Noise reduction

Helps to eliminate consistent background noise, like sounds from heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, (HVAC) systems that can obscure speech and inhibit intelligibility.

Automatic mixing

In rooms with multiple microphones, this algorithm will select the mic that is closest to the talker and send the most direct sound of their speech to the remote listener.

Don’t forget this is software based, so DSP is simply downloaded and deployed to in-room Windows 10 computers. This also means that it can be easily deployed and maintained by campus IT staff similar to other software applications.

Monitor and Manage

A digital networked solution is also easy to monitor and manage remotely. For example, Shure’s SystemOn audio asset management software and Stem‘s Ecosystem platform give AV teams the flexibility to remotely monitor the inventory and battery health of microphones, and check if something has gone offline in real time. This is especially useful in higher education facilities with AV equipment in lots of classrooms across multiple buildings on a campus.