Can You Hear Me Now?

Everyone knows the difficulties of dropped cell phone calls and the now famous Verizon commercials, but the question “can you hear me now” is still a part of our professional vernacular.  As cell phones have become a primary communication device and cell phone networks improved, the question is now more commonly heard in corporate boardrooms.   The difficulties in the boardrooms are not based on maintaining connectivity but rather someone not speaking within range of the phone in the center of the table, the caller hearing their own voice play back through the speaker phone, or the intelligibility of the voice on the call.  We’re going to look at how each difficulty can be overcome with a simple system update. 

When you have a group of people gathered around a conference table with a speaker phone placed at the center, unless you are a member of King Arthur’s Court, odds are all participants will not be equidistant from the built in microphone.  Now, to the credit of the speakerphone manufacturers, they do offer optional microphone extensions but that still only puts a microphone near most people, not directly in front of them.  When a recent customer decided to upgrade, ICS was able to provide independent microphones that were installed in the boardroom table in front of each seat.  With this method no person was ever leaning over a table or out of range of a microphone forcing the listener to ask “can you repeat that?”

Speakerphones are everywhere; from using them in boardrooms to using them in your cars with Bluetooth technology.  Speakerphones, however, do not transmit your voice instantaneously; there is a slight delay in transmission causing an echo we have all experienced where we might be able to hear the last few words we said when we finish talking.  The audio industry has developed a way to combat this issue called Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) processing.  The way this works is that the phone system and your microphones are connected to an audio processor with a built in AEC function.  During the programming phase of a project the audio processor is configured to ensure that the sound from the phone system is not picked up by the table microphones, preventing the echo.  In situations where two boardrooms might be trying to talk to one another, with an AEC processor in each boardroom attendees might not even be certain they are on a phone call at all.

Now that we've addressed ways to improve the transmission of voices in the boardroom, what can be done to increase the quality of the voice on the phone to make the message received clear and intelligible?  Using a speakerphone to try and broadcast sound to a room can be compared to shouting a message in an empty auditorium.  Eventually the sound will spread out and travel throughout the room, but will you be able to understand the message when it gets there or will it be distorted or interfered with by reflections?  A localized speaker system might seem excessive for a 15’ x 15’ room, but by putting more speakers closer to people’s ears providing more direct sound you can actually decrease the overall volume in the room, helping to prevent distortion and reflections off of the walls and ensure the message received is understood. 

By converting your boardroom conferencing system to independent microphones, audio processing with AEC, and localized speakers you can eliminate communication issues in the transmission of your message to anyone trying to receive it.  Your vision can be heard clearly, without echo, and increased intelligibility.  Now the only issue you might face is making sure who you’re talking to is as up to date with technology as you are.

For more information on how upgrading your boardroom audio visual systems can improve the quality of your meetings, please contact ICS integrated Communication Systems at 408-491-6000.