Using AV Technology To Improve Sound Quality In Schools

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AV Technology Can Improve Sound Quality In Schools

Few classrooms are designed with acoustics in mind, and that’s a problem for students. Poor audio quality is everywhere in U.S. classrooms, interfering with students’ ability to learn and remain engaged. Research presented by the Acoustical Society of America shows that excessive noise and vibration can reduce the amount of information delivered to students by up to 25 percent. AV solutions can help schools overcome these acoustical difficulties. Audio enhancement systems are designed to boost the important sound (the teacher) and suppress everything else.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

What Is The Value Of Good Sound In Schools?

Modern classrooms still rely on traditional lectures, and students spend about 75 percent of their time in school listening. With so much information being transmitted via sound, strong audio quality is critical for effective learning. Good audio is elusive in many classrooms, though, as they’re often too large for teachers to fill the room with their voice. Ambient noise only makes it harder for teachers to be heard. Schools are turning to audio enhancement solutions to resolve this issue, and there are a variety of benefits to the technology. For example:[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Audio Enhancement Helps Students Learn And Recall Information Better

According to studies, audio quality tracks with information quality. The easier it is for students to hear the teacher, the easier it is for those students to understand and remember what is being taught. Audio enhancement boosts the teacher’s voice, ensuring crisp, clear audio reaches every student in the room. Audio enhancement can also overcome ambient noise, which is frequently loud enough to interfere with the lesson.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Audio Enhancement Improves Academic Outcomes For Students At The Back Of The Classroom

Some classrooms are large enough that it’s almost impossible for a teacher to project their voice through the entire space. This won’t be noticed by students sitting close to the front, but students in the back frequently miss important parts of the lesson because it never makes it there. Unsurprisingly, these students are more likely to fall behind in at least one subject by the sixth grade. Audio enhancement helps teachers project their voice to the back of the room without yelling, so students in the back of the classroom remain just as engaged as those in the front.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Audio Enhancement Preserves The Teacher’s Voice

According to the American Academy of Otolaryngologists, more than half of U.S. teachers will develop a voice problem during their careers. Muscle pains, hoarseness and vocal tiredness are a few symptoms of voice strain, and they can be severe enough to result in missed teaching time. Audio enhancement is a frontline solution for preserving teachers’ voices. With an audio enhancement system in place, educators don’t need to raise their voices while speaking.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

What AV Solutions Deliver Better Sound In Schools?

Audio enhancement solutions are provided through AV integrators, and though they vary a bit in design, they all do the same thing - boost the clarity and volume of classroom audio. Leading classroom audio brands engineer a range of solutions for every budget and educational space. Two of those brands are Audio Enhancement and Frontrow. Here’s a closer look at their products:[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Audio Enhancement’s Classroom Audio Solutions

Audio Enhancement is a pioneer in classroom audio and has provided solutions for more than 40 years. Some of its classroom audio solutions provide exactly that - better audio in a single classroom. Some are designed for integration into a larger, schoolwide audio solution. The Beam and Mini Media solutions, for example, are economical classroom audio options that fill a single room with crisp audio. Its Optimum solution is on the other end of the complexity spectrum. It provides full network connectivity and two-way communication, so it can be used in conjunction with the school’s bells, intercom system and emergency alert system. All Audio Enhancement’s solutions consist of an amplifier, receiver, microphone and speakers. There are several microphone and speaker designs to choose from, including 360-degree microphones and ceiling-mounted speakers.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Frontrow’s Classroom Audio Solutions

Frontrow has been around for more than a half-century and provides classroom audio solutions to more than 25 countries. Among its product offerings are the ToGo, Pro Digital, Juno Classroom and ezRoom Classroom. The ToGo is Frontrow’s mobile audio option, perfect for PE classes, playgrounds and the bus line. It is easily portable and all of the system’s components can be carried in a single hand. It’s built with a second audio driver for better coverage and is PFM compatible, so it can be used with assistive listening devices. The Pro Digital is Frontrow’s most economical and simplest classroom audio option. It can be placed on a shelf if needed and teachers can learn to control it in minutes. Pro Digital is ideal for schools that need a budget-friendly option that has an extremely high adoption rate. The Juno and ezRoom solutions offer more. Juno utilizes Frontrow’s SonicSuffusion technology to deliver pitch-perfect audio to classrooms of any size. It also recognizes voice commands and can be used to control room technologies and record lessons. The ezRoom offers full AV integration with the room’s AV technologies and integration with the school’s communications. Bells, intercom systems and emergency messaging can all be run through the ezRoom, as a result.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Your AV Integrator Can Install And Support Audio Enhancement Solutions

While classroom audio solutions are designed for ease of use, all AV solutions are easier to install, configure, and maintain with a certified integrator’s expertise. Experienced AV integrators spend a lot of their time in classrooms and know how to accommodate existing technologies while integrating new ones. Students need to hear before they can learn, and the better the audio, the more they will hear. Investing in better classroom audio is investing in student success.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]