NEW! www.listentech.com

Listen Technologies has launched a re-designed website featuring enhanced content for end users as well as comprehensive product and design information for consultants, dealers and installers.

www.listentech.com

The ListenTech Blog can now be found within the website, giving you the blog reader easy access to the other materials on the site.

http://www.listentech.com/blog/

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.

Events that require language interpretation are often challenged by time requirements, space limitations, physical location of equipment and interpreters, and the need to link different locations together.  The ability to perform remote language interpretation is a solution to these challenges.  Here are a few examples of the applications that require it:

• With the growth of foreign language speaking minority populations, there is an increasing need to have language interpretation in the courts.  Many courts (especially those in remote locations) are challenged by the requirement to contract local interpreters that can perform on-site interpretation.
• Many corporate and government agencies have the need to communicate with people in different countries that might not have language interpretation capabilities on-site.  The ability to provide these remote sites with language support from one centralized location is crucial to their performance. 
• With the number of languages required in international meetings on the rise, the physical space to locate interpretation booths in every conference room where it is required becomes a challenge. 

What is “remote interpretation”?

Remote language interpretation is a term that refers to a situation where language interpretation is being performed with either the participants in need of language support or the interpreter providing the language support are  located remotely.  Here are two examples:

• The interpreters located on-site and are providing language interpretation for both the local participants and the participants that are off-site via teleconferencing equipment.

On-site Interpreters

• The interpreters are located off-site and are providing language interpretation for participants that are on-site and/or remotely located.

Off-site Interpreters

 It is worthy to note here that remote interpretation is not the place to save a few bucks on your design quality.  The quality of the audio and video that you provide to the interpreter will be directly proportionate to the quality of language interpretation you get back.  In other words, if you are distracting your interpreter with bad audio or video, they can’t concentrate on doing their job effectively.

 Case Study: Agriculture Canada uses remote interpretation to enhance their boardroom functionality.

 Agriculture Canada, located in Ottawa, ON, is a government agency that operates their affairs simultaneously in two languages – French and English – as legislated by the Canadian government.  This DCS6000 digital conferencing system solution was designed by Dave Hanson of The Attain Group consultants, and includes the capability to provide language support for remote sites via video teleconference and/or audio conference.  The interpreter is able to provide the local participants with language interpretation support into French or English, as well as providing similar language support for up to four remote sites.  Depending on which language is being spoken on the floor, the system is able to route the correct audio source to the far site so that they are always hearing the proceedings in their own language.

Basically, the way it works is that when someone is speaking English within the boardroom or from a remote site, the interpreter switches their console to the French position and begins speaking French.  Within the system, their voice will be routed to a specific audio channel.  This audio channel is then routed out to the local participants (via wired or wireless channel selectors with headphones) and to an audio matrix mixer which will pass it on to the outgoing channel of the teleconference interface, and ultimately to the participants on the far site.  Thus, the French speaking participants in the boardroom and on the far site will always hear their native language – in this example French – via either the live feed or the interpreter.  This works the same way if someone in the boardroom or someone on the far site speaks French – the interpreter will switch to the English position, and interpret into English, which will then be routed to the English speakers in the boardroom and on the far site.

Sound complicated???  It’s really not – because the digital conferencing system manages most of the routing for you.  Granted, each situation is different and the system design will vary depending on the specific requirements of each project

Stay tuned for an upcoming blog on Remote Court Interpretation from one of our dealers in the near future!

1. Complete integration of personal and business social media. 
2. A happy medium of mixing personal and business social media; but still some separation between the two.
3. Complete separation between personal and business social media.

Another interesting thing was that when we talked about social media, many people gravitated right to Facebook and/or Twitter.  The concept of social media incorporates a list of methods including:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Linked In
• Blogs
• You Tube
• Many others

And, with all of these types of social media; how does one keep on top of it all and keep it separate?

Thoughts:

1. Social media is a personal preference that varies from one person to another.  Each of us decides how much or how little social media we desire.  It’s OK not to engage in much social media; it’s also OK to go over the top.
2. Design your social media plan.  You should decide how much, what type and your personal/business separation plans for social media.  You don’t want to get into a position where you discover that your personal and business media is so intertwined that you can no longer separate it.
3. In terms of micro-blogging, one concept is to use Facebook for personal and Linked In for business.
4. Use one social media site to feed other social media sites.  Examples:  When this blog post is published it is immediately published on Twitter and the Listen fan page on Facebook.  On Linked In you can publish your post automatically to Twitter.
5. Use multiple methods to access social media including your computer and your phone.  Most social media sites allow you to set text message alerts on certain posts.
6. You can use RSS feeds to send social media right to your email where you can selectively look at posts that interest you.

Here’s an interesting video on social media I found at Common Craft:  Social Media in Plain English.

By using Listen’s LT-800 and LA-107 ground plane antenna, they were able to transmit from the press box to the far side of the field.

 5280 Digital used Listen’s LR-100 Receiver to pick up the source and feed it to the three community speakers mounted on a pole directed to the field.

Other equipment used was a BiAmp Nexia for speaker management, a Crown Amplifier, a Furman Surge Protector and a Shure Wireless SLX Series Mic for the referee.

Watch this short video to hear firsthand from Larry Crawford about this project.

What a nice package. 5280 did a fantastic job. The system sounds great. Being a Dad of a football player myself at Ponderosa High School, I was impressed. Most of the stadiums that I have watched games in don’t have good audio. This is not the case for the Campbell County Camels. The only complaint that Larry got from his customer was that the system was too loud. Not a bad complaint Larry. Nice work and thank you for all you do.  

Control Room at Cowboys Stadium

AV Consultant for the project was WJHW with Senior Consultant Kevin Day as the lead. The dealers involved were Pro Media / Ultrasound (prime integrator), LANTEK Communications and Admiral A/V (cable subcontractors).      

Listen Technologies was specified for the public auditory assistance system and a cueing / information monitoring system for the press (IEM). Along with quantities of the LR-400-216 receivers, ear-speakers, neck-loops and ADA compliance signs, two LT-800-216 are utilized for simultaneous transmitted channels. While the primary function of the secondary channel during sport events is for relaying statistics and press information, it may also be used during special events for language interpretation.

Ultra-cool Listen Sales rep insight factor- This setup is probably being used in your own local major sports venue. Next time you visit, ASK for an ALS receiver, there’s no shame you’re likely to be a hearing impaired audio rep! If it’s not a Listen receiver report it immediately, if it is an LR-400-216, open it up. Press seek and find the secondary channel for the press. You will be amazed at what you hear, just Listen.      

Listen and SurgeX at Cowboys Stadium

SurgeX was specified for surge elimination and power conditioning for the main racks, FOH racks, and every remote rack location protecting the sensitive DSP, hubs and other peripheral equipment. A total of 44 SurgeX SX1120-RT were used throughout the venue. Everything else is a TVSS surge suppressor, SurgeX is the only complete surge eliminator, 0 voltage let through on worst case surge of 6000Volts, 3000amps. Projects like this have to have the very best.     

TASCAM was specified for the FOH for music playback, recorded announcements, etc. Two CD Players, one CD recorder and four tuners are used in the stadium. CD Player and recorder at FOH, the tuners are used for the various lounges, boxes that have the option of selecting a radio station. I specifically remember this application because at the time of the install design Kevin Day asked me about the possibilities of a dual AM/FM RDS tuner, of which I did pass on to R&D.      

I’m proud to say that the three companies listed I currently work for and have worked for in the past. Great to see products from all three successfully used in the biggest and best AV installations in the world. It’s an honor to be associated with the best, while everything else is the rest! Thank you Russ for the invitation, it has been my pleasure to have this blogging opportunity.      

SurgeX - Listen – Tascam

The IR Programming Method
A basic understanding of binary code is helpful when programming the receivers. The chart on the left (click to enlarge) show how the basics of how the code works. This will be of great value when you are programming the receiver and need reference to where you are in the process. Using the code gives the receiver up to 16 different programming options. The four lights on the front of the receiver are the indicators of the code. Please review the chart and the light sequence of the binary code.

Here is a photo of the sub-menu of the receiver.

To enter programming mode, follow this procedure:

1. Make sure the unit is off and not in LED sleep mode. To turn the unit off press and hold the PWR button for 1.5 seconds. All of the LEDs will light up momentarily and then turn off signaling power has been shut off.
2. With the unit off, press and hold the Power and Select buttons for three seconds.
3. When program mode is entered all four LEDs will flash once indicating successful entry into program mode.
4. Immediately after the LEDs flash the channel one LED will come on. This represents the first of the programmable features, the Stereo On/Off function.

While in Program Mode

1. The Channels 1, 2 and 3 LED indicators are used to display which programmable feature is currently selected.
2. The Channel 4 LED indicator shows whether the Stereo On/Off and Auto-Seek features are enabled or disabled. If the Channel 4 LED is on these features are enabled.
3. Press the Select button to advance to the next program mode feature.
4. Press the Power button to:
   1. Enable or disable the Stereo On/Off and Auto-Seek Features (or),
   2. Enter the program “sub-mode” required to adjust the Channel Lock-Out and Squelch features.

#2 Locking and unlocking on a channel

Both of the IR receivers can be locked on a channel. 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 four different languages, you may want all receivers to be locked on a certain language. This will help eliminate any confusion if any buttons are accidentally hit causing the unit to move off of the desired language. Here’s how to lock the IR receiver on a channel.

1. Predetermine the channel that you want to lock the unit on. Select this channel.
2. Wait until the unit enters LED sleep mode. LED sleep mode begins when the unit extinguishes the channel indicator LED which will happen 10 seconds after the last button is pressed.
3. Once in LED sleep mode, press and hold both the Select and Power buttons for three seconds.
4. After holding for three seconds, the channel indicator LED will flash once indicating that the unit has been successfully locked. Once the channel indicator LED flashes you can release the Power and Select buttons.
5. Follow the same process to unlock the receiver.

Listen’s Stationary FM systems offer 57 frequencies to choose from making these ideal in applications where there is a large amount of other RF products in use. Fans use Listen assistive listening receivers to listen to listen to sound from the sound system that may not be able to be heard because of hearing difficulties, noise or acoustics.  An FM transmitter transmits the sound to small receivers worn by fans and connected to their ear with earphones.

        Lambeau Field at glance:

• Dedicated: Sept. 29, 1957, Green Bay 21, Chicago Bears 17.
• Capacity: 72,928 present; 65,290 to 66,110 in 2002; 60,890 in 2001; 32,500 in 1957 (original seating)
• Original name: “City Stadium” (new City Stadium)
• Original Cost: $960,000 (paid off in 1978)
• Renamed: Rededicated as Lambeau Field Sept. 11, 1965, following death of Curly Lambeau the previous June.
• Owner: City of Green Bay and Green Bay/Brown County Professional Football Stadium District (operated/maintained by the team).
• Field:Installed in 2007, the top level of the field system is 12 inches of root-zone sand and Kentucky bluegrass turf. DD GrassMaster synthetic fibers are stitched into the surface, providing strength and stability to the field. Fibers extend approximately seven inches below the surface and are exposed approximately one inch above the surface and are spaced every three-quarters of an inch. Approximately 20 million individual stitches make up the process.
• Heating system: Installed in 2007 and contains more than 30 miles of radiant heating pipe, which can maintain a root-zone temperature of 55-plus degrees to keep the ground from freezing during the season’s latter months. First system was put in by Vince Lombardi for 1967 season (failed during Ice Bowl).
• Location: 1265 Lombardi Ave., southwest Green Bay.
• NFL Championship Games: Three (1961, 1965 and 1967).
• Packers all-time record: Regular Season: 166-104-4 (.614); Postseason: 13-3-0 (.813); Overall: 179-107-4 (.625)

Listen is new to social media.  We began this adventure in July 2009.  In the beginning we didn’t fully understand  what all the hype was about with social media.  However, as we did more research and looked at the benefits – our eyes opened up.  What we figured out is that social media could accomplish the following (I’ll explain in greater detail below):

1. Allows our organization to better explain our solutions to the world. 
2. Provides an ongoing library of relevant and discoverable content.
3. Provides an informal way to have conversations with customers.
4. Social media allows us to be more prolific in developing new content.
5. Helps search engines to find us so our customers can find us.

Let me explain in more detail:

1. Allows our organization to better explain our solutions to the world.  Our company focuses on five solution categories for assistive listening, tour groups, language interpretation, soundfield and conferencing.  With social media we can go more in-depth in our solutions and explain them in an informal way that makes it easy to understand.  And since we can include  images, videos and links, we can cross-reference these discussions with other relevant information. 
2. Provides an ongoing library of relevant and discoverable content. The really cool thing about this blog site is that content that is put up – stays up and can be referenced in the future.  You can find it multiple ways including through search engines, tags and categories.  For example we developed a blog post that explains how to program  FM receivers.  Now, this information is accessible at any time in the future.  BTW, we have an IR receiver programming post coming soon.
3. Provides an informal way to have conversations with customers. Much of what is found on our web site and our collateral information is formal in nature.  What I mean by this is that web content must go through our marketing team and strict graphic standards must be adhered to.  Thus, the content is presented in a very clean and formal way.  Well, with social media, we can present information that’s not so cleaned up.  In fact, for most social media it’s unacceptable to be formal.  When we present the content it’s more of a conversation and we shy away from selling.  We mostly talk about what the benefits are of our products and how they can help people.  On top of this, blogging allows for comments that engages and provides a means of having conversations.
4. Social media allows us to be more prolific in developing new content. One of the problems with a web site that to put up new content takes time and resources because it must go through a detailed workflow process.  With social media, relevant content can be created and published quickly.  This allows us as an organization to be much more prolific in creating new content.
5. Helps search engines to find us so our customers can find us. For most of us, when we need something we Google it or use a similar search engine.  These search engines go out to social media and collect key words. So for our organization, our social media content gets picked up by the search engine.  And thus, when someone needs a tour group solution for example, they can find Listen.

We are finding that our traffic to our blog site growing consistently each month.  Our goal is to continue to develop interesting, relevant content that can be used today and referenced  tomorrow.  Your ideas and suggestions for blog posts are welcomed.  Please feel free to email me Russell.Gentner@Listentech.com or leave a comment here. Also, if you would like to be a contributor to our blog post, let me know.

A perfect case in point is a recent Digital IR application our Regional Sales Manager, Michelle Shimizu and Ben Frederick of Audio Geer handled with the Riverside Community College (RCC) Early Childhood Education Program.   

The RCC program provides an educational and practical foundation for students interested in working with children from infancy through third grade. In addition to theoretical principles, the curriculum offers practical skills and on-site training that will prepare students for employment in the field of Early Childhood Education.  

The center has two large rooms where the children can interact, play, and learn. Each of the two rooms has a glass wall between them forming two smaller rooms for a total of four rooms. The glass walls allow for observation by teachers, parents, students and doctors. There are two alcoves that allow a view of two rooms. The Digital IR Radiator is placed in the alcove.

Observation alcove at RCC. Digital IR Radiator mounted above the windows.

Observation alcove at RCC for students, parents, and teachers.

Four microphones have been placed in each room to provide audio to the observers. The microphones are hanging shotgun style microphones and each microphone has a dedicated channel on the Digital IR system. It’s designed so that students, faculty, and parents can observe children without the kids knowing they are being monitored. 

The red arrows point to the microphones hanging in the room.

The red arrows point to the microphones hanging in the "Bear Room"

Observers are using Listen/DIS DR 6032 Digital IR 32-Channel Receivers to scroll thru and pick up the audio from each microphone. Observers check out pack and headphone then follow instructions on the wall. 

Digital IR Receivers in charging case for check out by observers.

Instructions on scrolling through channels for observation.

This solution allows observers to easily monitor each child in different developmental stages.  Listen products are giving these students and professionals the ability to assist and guide children as they grow.    

And if that isn’t helping, I don’t know what is!