Sound Field's Benefits to Specifiers and Installers

Teacher using Sound Field Classroom System

Sound Field benefits to specifiers and installers

• York University

The benefits to student and teacher of a Sound Field system (any Sound Field system!) are clear and succinct.

For the system specifier and the installer, there is a wide range of acoustic, aesthetic, logistical and financial benefits to the Armstrong i-ceilings Sound Field System over and above those of our competitors’ solutions…

		Unparalleled even sound coverage: The i-ceilings Sound Field System is based upon our revolutionary i-ceilings Sound Panels, a unique loudspeaker solution developed to provide unparalleled levels of even sound distribution. i-ceilings use ‘NXT’ flat panel speaker technology (sometimes called ‘distributed mode’), which provides much more even sound coverage (Fig.1) than the ‘hot and cold spots’ characteristic of conventional ‘cone’ loudspeakers (Fig.2).




		Fig 1 i-ceilings Sound Panels provide unequalled levels of even sound coverage.		Fig 2 Conventional ‘cone’ loudspeakers suffer from uneven sound coverage or ‘hot & cold spots’.

		Fewer loudspeakers required: Due to i-ceilings’ even sound distribution characteristics, fewer speakers are required in comparison with conventional ‘cone’ ceiling or wall mounted speakers. This provides significant reductions in installation time and, in many cases, clear cost reductions.


		Reduced loudspeaker theft or vandalism: i-ceilings Sound Panels are developed by suspended ceiling market leaders ‘Armstrong’ to exactly match their range of acoustic ceiling tiles. As the i-ceilings loudspeaker is visually identical to the rest of the ceiling, it is virtually impossible to identify them by eye, therefore greatly reducing any possibility of their theft or damage in public access or vulnerable areas.

i-ceilings loudspeakers are unidentifiable in the ceiling.
• Sheffield Hallam University (above)

Reduced microphone feedback (or ‘microphone howl’):
As Sound Field systems use wireless (or ‘roaming’) microphones, there are limitations to the audio system placement to ensure microphones do not feedback (or ‘howl’).
The NXT flat panel loudspeaker technology used in i-ceilings Sound Panels greatly reduces the possibility of feedback, allowing the teacher to roam freely throughout the classroom and providing easier, more flexible audio system design.

		Cost-effective, multiple-room systems without signal crossover: Sound Field Voice Reinforcement in the classroom really works! Which is why the majority of schools, colleges and universities that have a system, in fact have systems in many or all of their classrooms. Most Sound Field systems use ‘RF’ (Radio Frequency) wireless microphones, which have limitations to the number of frequency channels available and high cost implications for increased numbers of channels. i-ceilings Sound Field provides an ‘Infrared’ wireless microphone solution which negates the difficulties of number of frequency channels and high cost implications. Infrared uses light (just like your TV remote control) rather than RF to transmit the microphone signal. The infrared signal cannot ‘overflow’ into adjoining classrooms as light will not transmit through walls. This allows the same simple and highly cost effective system to be used in any number of adjacent rooms without the need for multiple frequencies.

		Secure signal for privacy rooms: Furthermore, unlike radio frequency systems, the characteristics of infrared ensure that unauthorised parties outside of the room cannot receive the transmission signal of the voice.