Portable FM
Understanding Audio Description
Universal Audio Description Symbol
Early in my audio career I was helping a company set up a large assistive listening system for Audio Description for the movie Forrest Gump. Several hundred receivers were needed so the audience could experience what it was like to only hear and not ‘see’ a movie – the way visually impaired people experience a movie. Vince Scully did the voice narration that played along with the regular audio sound track –to listen to a movie with descriptive narration was an amazing experience and reminds me of the importance of audio in our lives. In fact, I learned more about this movie with the narrative and it enhanced the experience greatly. I had already “seen” the movie but the enhancement I received through the narration left a much stronger impression on me.
At Listen Technologies many customers contact us about assistive listening products and a growing number are now also calling about products for audio description. Audio Description (AD) is a term for descriptive narration which is often used to describe the visual elements of a performance or presentation. Audio description is intended for persons who have a visual impairment and is intended to complement the performance around the dialog and music This addition of audio description conveys the settings, costumes and body language in a visual performance or presentation. We “see” many performing art centers adding audio description to enhance their live performances.
It’s easy to add audio description to a sound system. The descriptive track of the movie is delivered to an assistive listening transmitter. This transmitter transmits to receivers that the audience uses. You can use the same receivers used for assistive listening for the people who need audio description by simply choosing a different channel on the receiver before handing out the receiver. This allows the venue to deliver audio description at a very low cost.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )The World’s Coolest Factory Tours
Factory Tour
Looking for something fun to do? Do you know there are thousands of factories that offer guided tours? I found three links I think you might find interesting . By doing a simple Google search you can find factory tours throughout the world.
1. The first sight is the Travel + Leisure blog site. It takes you inside several different factory tours ranging from the Harley Davidson factory to a perfume factory and to the Anchor Brewing company in San Francisco. They are cool!
World’s Coolest Factory Tours – Articles – Travel + Leisure.
2. This second link is a guide to factory tours inspired by the book Watch it Made in the USA. The site has videos, a blog and of course… you can also buy the the book.
Click here to visit Watch it Made in the USA.
3. This final site is a non-profit site listing 552 places in the USA you can go on a factory tour. Click here to find one year you.
And when you visit one these sites, don’t forget to ask for a Listen Tour Group System. When you use a system like this, the tour leader wears a wireless microphone that transmits his/her voice to an earphone that you wear during the tour. It makes the tour a lot more enjoyable because you hear everything the tour leader has to say and you can stray away a bit from the main group and still hear what’s being said. This is where the Listen slogan comes from…
Don’t miss a single sound.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Programming Listen’s FM Products
Listen FM products offer several functions that can enhance the experience of the user. The LCD on many of the products have several setting changes that allow for customized user scenarios. This post will briefly touch on three features that will reiterate my points.
#1 Locking and unlocking on a channel
All of Listen’s FM products can be locked on a channel. Most of the products are locked through software (the LR-200 is locked on a channel with a manual channel switch). Locking on a channel is great in applications where a person does not want the unit to be tampered with. For example, if you are a house of worship broadcasting on only one frequency, you may not want your patrons to access any of the other channels on their receiver. This will help eliminate any confusion caused if the SEEK or UP/DOWN buttons are accidentally hit. Locking the channel is slightly different on each Listen receiver model. Here’s how to lock the channel.
- For the LR-300, 400 or 500 Portable Receivers
- With the unit ON, press and hold the SEEK button down for five seconds.
- If you are using the LR-400 and LR-500, a lock symbol will be displayed on the LCD.
- On all receivers, the red LED will indicate the lock status. If SEEK or UP/DOWN is pressed with the unit locked, the LED will blink. The LED will remain illuminated if the receiver is not locked.
- To unlock the receiver, press and hold the SEEK for five seconds.
- For the LT-700 Portable Transmitter
- With the unit ON, press and hold the UP button.
- A lock symbol will be displayed on the LCD.
- The red LED will also indicate if the transmitter is locked. If the Up/Down buttons are pressed, the LED will blink indicating the unit is locked. The LED will remain illuminated if the transmitter is not locked. Pressing the PWR button will turn the unit off regardless of the lock status.
- To unlock the LT-700, press and hold the UP for five seconds.
- For the LT-800 Stationary Transmitter
- With the unit ON, press the UP button.
- A lock symbol will be displayed on the LCD.
- The LT-800 does not have an LED to indicate that the unit is locked.
- To unlock the LT-800, press and hold the UP for five seconds.
#2 Programming the LR-500 or LT-700 to lock out channels
Programming the LR-500/LT-700 is great way for the unit to allow only a couple of channels to receive/transmit. This is a great application for tour groups or language interpretation when a person has to quickly change between a set number of channels. For example, in an application where four different tours are taking place, the unit can have all but four channels locked out. The tour group leader can direct the group to change to any of the four channels that may be open. Instead of scrolling through all 57 channels, the unit will now only show four. To program the LR-500/LT-700, do the following:
- With the unit ON, press the UP and DOWN buttons simultaneously for 5 seconds, until the PGM symbol appears in the display.
- You will notice a “PGM” symbol at the bottom of the LCD.
- Use the UP/DOWN buttons to select the channels.
- When you have reached a channel that you do not want to display, press the SEEK button (PWR button, if you are programming the LT-700).
- Notice on the LCD that an L/O is now indicating that the unit has that particular channel “locked out”.
- After setting locking out all desired channels, let the unit set idle for 5 seconds. The unit will exit “programming” mode.
#3 Changing the squelch on the receiver (LR-400 and LR-500 only)
Squelch is the function of the receiver to suppress the audio being received when the signal from the transmitter has become too weak. Generally, this occurs when the receiver gets further from the transmitter. It can also occur if the transmitters signal is obstructed before it reaches the receiver. A low signal allows for noisy artifacts to be heard. You can adjust the squelch on your receiver so that these noises are not heard. Keep in mind; this will limit the range between the receiver and the transmitter. To adjust squelch, do the following:
- With the unit off, hold the SEEK button down.
- Now, turn the volume wheel “on”.
- By default, the number “03” will be displayed on the LCD.
- To adjust the squelch, press the Up/Down buttons to raise or lower the setting.
- The larger the number, the more sensitive the receiver will be to a low signal causing it to squelch. The smaller numbers effectively allows the receiver to receive a lower signal before it squelches. If you get to “0”, the receiver will not squelch.
Some simple solutions that will help in those situations where programming is needed.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Court Technology Conference – Not Lost In Translation
Assistive Listening & Language Interpretation for Courts
In September, Listen took part in the Court Technology Conference (CTC) show in Denver, Colorado, USA.
We met with a variety of contacts including; Judges, Clerks, Interpreters, and IT/AV Technology Specialists.
Our greatest lesson from the show is that the court market is thriving. We’re not sure that’s a good thing…. But we do know construction of new court facilities is growing. The court market has accepted the need for Assistive Listening and Language Interpretation solutions. As one court consultant put it, they consider Listen FM and Stationary Infrared products as mission critical equipment; if a trial is in session and a member of the jury cannot hear or understand what is being said, this could be grounds for a mistrial.
When you consider the variety of people who are involved in a court presiding including court employees, representatives for both sides, witnesses, jury and spectators; it’s obvious that people absolutely need to hear what’s being said. But court rooms (like other rooms) are sometimes not conducive to being able to hear. Many court rooms have poor acoustics. Let’s face it, the ability to hear is truly mission critical. The two ways Listen helps court rooms is with assistive listening products and language interpretation products. Here’s how they work:
Assistive Listening Products. An output from the sound system in the court room is fed to a transmitter. This transmitter transmits audio either through the airwaves using Listen’s Stationary FM Products (it’s essentially a small radio station) or via light (using infrared technology) using Listen’s Stationary IR products. The advantage of using IR is that it is secure and no one can eaves drop on the proceedings. That’s why many court rooms use IR. The transmitter transmits audio to small receivers and people using earphones in court room to her what is being said. The picture above shows what we call a “stetho” receiver. It has the earphones built into the receiver.
Language Interpretation Products. The issue is that one person speaks in one language and another person can’t understand that language. So an interpreter is paid by the court to come in and listen in one language and talk in another. This is called language interpretation. The same products used for assistive listening is used for language interpretation. The interpreter’s voice is broadcast to the same small receivers and earphones. So people in the court room can listen to one of two channels; one channel for assistive listening and another for language interpretation. If there are more than two languages, more transmitters can be used. Listen can provide up to 32 languages of interpretation. Talk about being tongue tied.
Here’s a post we did a while back the further explains how language interpretation works. Click here.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )I’m Going To Hear My Mother’s Voice For The First Time
Louise Sattler is a nationally certified school psychologist with specializations in linguistics and multi-cultural education. She has been teaching American Sign Language for more than 20 years to families with hearing and non-hearing children, college students, staff at public and private school systems and businesses. Louise is the owner of Signing Families and is also an adjunct faculty member at Howard Community College (HCC) in Maryland.
Louise was the organizer of an ASL symposium sponsored by HCC to share with students and the community topics regarding deafness, American Sign Language (ASL) and new technologies available for individuals who are deaf. The goal of the symposium was to help hearing and deaf students and staff be able to communicate through ASL and to enhance students’ understanding regarding the deaf community.
Several presenters and vendors joined this event, including Denise Perdue and Lisa Kornberg of the Maryland Governor’s Office for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Ms. Perdue gave a presentation to the students regarding the latest technologies and assistive listening devices (ALDs) that are now available, including AVATAR and Video Relay Systems. The presentation also included a Listen Technologies FM system that was made available through Harris Communications.
One of the attendees of the conference was a deaf international student who attends HCC full-time. Evgeny Bogolyubov, who is from Moscow, was fascinated by the Listen system and asked for Ms. Perdue to help him with a demonstration. He was simply amazed when he was able to hear speech in English. Even more amazing, an HCC Russian teacher volunteered to speak/voice with him in Russian—his native language.
Evgeny was overcome with excitement because it was the first time in his life he heard Russian clearly. By this time, a rather large audience of students and faculty had gathered. The onlookers started clapping and shed more than a few tears upon Evgeny’s signing that he was so happy to be able to hear Russian. Many in the deaf community prefer to not have aids or FM systems, but in Evgeny’s case he wanted to hear sound for so many reasons, including learning English to speak, read and write better as well as be able to communicate with loved ones.
Louise was so moved by Evgeny’s excitement that she knew she needed to find a way for Evgeny to have access to his own assistive listening device. Louise’s passion and Evegeny’s story made for a very compelling cause to support. Due to Evgeny’s international status he is not eligible for free or reduced fee equipment through state or federal programs. This made it very easy to find a way to give him a “gently used” system free of charge.
Evgeny’s response was very emotional and rewarding for us at Listen. Upon hearing the news of his donated FM system, Evgeny was thrilled and was looking forward to hearing his mother’s voice for the first time. This is why we love what we do.
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- HCC Russian teacher speaking to Evgeny in Russian
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- Evgeny hears Russian for the first time
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- Evgeny receiving his personal ALS system
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- Evgeny and friends
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