Sennheiser recently installed its TeamConnect Ceiling 2 (TCC 2) microphones in the 190-seat auditorium of Gaia, a net-zero building at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), one of the world’s high-ranking universities, to elevate hybrid learning experience for its students.
Gaia is home to NTU Singapore’s Nanyang Business School, an established business school in the Asia-Pacific region. The school required a communication system to support a hybrid learning experience for its diverse cohort.
Over a period of two months, the Sennheiser team worked closely with the systems integrator, AV Media, to install 12 units of TCC 2 with intricate planning, simulations, and calibration.
The auditorium is characterised by a 9m ceiling height at the front with varying height running throughout the rest of the room due to the cascading theatre seating arrangement. To fit this auditorium, the Sennheiser team had to calibrate and adjust for more than the recommended distance, while taking into consideration the differing ceiling-to-floor distances.
Given the size, the initial design planned for 18 TCC 2s, but following detailed analysis, it was reduced to 12. Two units of TCC 2 were installed at the front of to serve as the pickup for the stage area, while the 10 other units were spread across the theatre seating area for audience pickup. The team was conscious about installing just the right number of TCC 2s to cover all areas so that no devices were deemed redundant.
The TruVoicelift functionality includes a noise gate that can be activated during pauses in speaking to prevent background noises from being amplified. In addition, priority zone and advanced exclusion zones can also be set via the Sennheiser Control Cockpit, so that audio at the front of the lecture hall can be prioritised and unwanted background noises from air conditioning, other operating systems, doors and movement of chairs can be minimised.
The TCC 2 was also chosen as it could work well with the Q-SYS auto tracking camera to track the active speaker in the auditorium, so that remote participants would not miss out on key moments during lecturers and discussions and will feel more engaged and involved.
Eileen Goh, general manager of AV Media, said: “Physical microphones are a thing of the past. They are inflexible and restrict the movement of the speaker. In addition, passing around a microphone also poses a huge hygiene risk. We knew immediately a ceiling microphone was the right solution for the auditorium, and we recommended Sennheiser’s TCC 2 for its superior audio quality and TruVoicelift functionality.”
She added: “We also had to fulfil other requirements, like minimising unwanted sound in the auditorium and ensuring that the lecturer’s volume is prioritised when multiple persons are speaking in the room.”
With Sennheiser TCC 2, lecturers no longer must hold a microphone, allowing them the flexibility to move around without having to worry about compromising the audio quality. “Students can now enjoy excellent audio in class, where the speaker can be heard from every corner of the room. Most importantly, the system is easy to operate, and the lecturers can do so without technical assistance. This saves time and reduces cost in the long run,” concluded Goh.
