The specific design for Gas Industry Co included: The Sennheiser Team Connect SL Ceiling Mic System, which has three components:
. The SL Ceiling Mic, designed to look like a 600 x 600ml ceiling tile
. Audio DSP Processor
. Comm's Box
The SL Ceiling Mic has 29 microphone capsules inside which forms microphone beam steering. The beams zoom in on wherever the speech takes place. This microphone is different from similar products as it has an auto feature meaning the microphone's beam picks up the person speaking wherever they are in the room. This was particularly useful for Gas Industry Co as their meeting room was used in different seating arrangements, such as classroom style, theatre style or seating around a U shaped table. Other microphone systems would require presets, selected by the client, to try and provide the coverage required in a dynamic space. However, if the person speaking steps out of the coverage of the preset then the intelligibility and level would be degraded. The SL Ceiling Mic auto feature makes it adaptive to the different audience set ups and requires no input from the client.
The SL Ceiling Mic was also a good solution for the room acoustics. The room had many reflective surfaces making it acoustically challenging. The tight beam steering of the SL Ceiling Mic reduces the effect of the room on the audio quality substantially.
The call quality of this system is excellent and it is very easy to use. Calls can be made through a Laptop on the network or through a WIFI connection on an IOS device. This makes it easy to interface with the system to dial out to the conference call.
A Laptop can be plugged into the Comm's Box, situated in the meeting room, via USB. This allows the teleconference to be recorded, or presentations with audio to be sent to the conference. A headset can be plugged into the Comm's Box so the call can be monitored or another participant included. There is also scope to plug a phone directly into the box to ring out.
The Sennheiser Team Connect SL Ceiling Mic system provided a full solution for Gas Industry Co that met the requirements of greater connectivity and intelligibility. It is a solution that requires little input from the client while also giving them multiple options for connecting to calls. Gas Industry Co was very pleased with the results.