5 ms·

Not the same but there exists a microphone which can be thought of as an audio version of this: https://www.acousticmagic.com/ https://www.acousticmagic.com/ It

Not the same but there exists a microphone which can be thought of as an audio version of this: https://www.acousticmagic.com/ https://www.acousticmagic.com/ It senses the direction of the speaker and outputs audio from that direction filtering out audio from other directions. As different speakers in different locations speak it changes the direction it uses. It also outputs a location signal that can be used by software to, for example, have a computer position a camera toward the current speaker. (I don't have one - this is just based on the material I have read.)

apaprocki 11y ago
You can also get entire rooms wired for this as well. I recently helped design one of our presentation rooms where the system (with the help of a lot of array mics) processes who is speaking and if the speaker puts the room into Q&A mode it will focus on / boost whoever is speaking. The intent was to get rid of the "could you repeat the question" issue (anyone who has ever been to a NYTM knows this one :)) or awkward pauses as an entire room waits for someone with a mic to walk over. It helps make recordings of Q&A much more natural and fluid.
- DenisM 11y ago
  Did that end up working well when you were done with setup?
  - apaprocki 11y ago
    Yes.. it works remarkably well and is tuned so your brain doesn't even notice the amplification. If, for example, the reverb is jacked up to make the room sound like a cathedral then your brain immediately knows it is "fake" -- but under normal settings unless the system was explained, someone in the room would not notice what is going on.
- Animats 11y ago
  That's a technology that's been available custom for a while, but it's hard to deploy. There's a startup opportunity for someone to do a moderate-cost presentation system that's installed in conference rooms, hotels, and such that Just Works. Lighting control should be automated as well; if someone is projecting something, the lighting should be automatically adjusted for that. And automate HVAC control properly, too. Put a temp/humidity/CO/CO2 sensor in the return air duct, and a motion detector in the room, and tie them into the HVAC controls. All conference rooms and college classrooms should have this, because the people load varies enormously from hour to hour. (As a room fills up, the temperature goes up and the CO2 content in the return air goes up. This tells the HVAC system to not only feed in more cold air, but to use less recirculated air and more outside air to bring the CO2 level down. This eliminates "stuffiness". If the CO level goes up, someone is smoking, fan speeds must rise and dampers dump the return air outside. When the room is empty, do one last air change, then drop to minimum HVAC levels and turn off almost all the lights.) You can buy all this from Honeywell or Johnson Controls, but it's not well marketed, costs too much, and requires too much engineering during installation. Somebody needs to do an industrial-strength Nest startup.
Domenic_S 11y ago
That has got to be the worst intro text I've read in a long time: > The Voice Tracker™ I can be used as an auxiliary microphone with conventional conferencing systems that have a good AEC. The Voice Tracker™ II has its own built in AEC, and consequently can be used with VoIP systems that do not have a robust AEC. Looks really cool, though.
dwiel 11y ago
We got one of these for our office so the remote guys can hear during meetings and it is terrible. We'll all be sitting at a table, and the remote people can only hear every other person at the table. There are random empty spots where it doesn't hear, or it will put all of the focus on some people talking quietly on the other side of the room instead of the person talking right next to it. We've had the best luck with a Jabra microphone. Perhaps it would work better in large rooms with only one person talking, but its hard to say. We also had good luck with the microphone on the dropcam, but people thought it was too much like a security camera and made them uncomfortable.

apaprocki 11y ago

You can also get entire rooms wired for this as well. I recently helped design one of our presentation rooms where the system (with the help of a lot of array mics) processes who is speaking and if the speaker puts the room into Q&A mode it will focus on / boost whoever is speaking. The intent was to get rid of the "could you repeat the question" issue (anyone who has ever been to a NYTM knows this one :)) or awkward pauses as an entire room waits for someone with a mic to walk over. It helps make recordings of Q&A much more natural and fluid.

DenisM 11y ago
Did that end up working well when you were done with setup?
- apaprocki 11y ago
  Yes.. it works remarkably well and is tuned so your brain doesn't even notice the amplification. If, for example, the reverb is jacked up to make the room sound like a cathedral then your brain immediately knows it is "fake" -- but under normal settings unless the system was explained, someone in the room would not notice what is going on.
Animats 11y ago
That's a technology that's been available custom for a while, but it's hard to deploy. There's a startup opportunity for someone to do a moderate-cost presentation system that's installed in conference rooms, hotels, and such that Just Works. Lighting control should be automated as well; if someone is projecting something, the lighting should be automatically adjusted for that. And automate HVAC control properly, too. Put a temp/humidity/CO/CO2 sensor in the return air duct, and a motion detector in the room, and tie them into the HVAC controls. All conference rooms and college classrooms should have this, because the people load varies enormously from hour to hour. (As a room fills up, the temperature goes up and the CO2 content in the return air goes up. This tells the HVAC system to not only feed in more cold air, but to use less recirculated air and more outside air to bring the CO2 level down. This eliminates "stuffiness". If the CO level goes up, someone is smoking, fan speeds must rise and dampers dump the return air outside. When the room is empty, do one last air change, then drop to minimum HVAC levels and turn off almost all the lights.) You can buy all this from Honeywell or Johnson Controls, but it's not well marketed, costs too much, and requires too much engineering during installation. Somebody needs to do an industrial-strength Nest startup.

Domenic_S 11y ago

That has got to be the worst intro text I've read in a long time: > The Voice Tracker™ I can be used as an auxiliary microphone with conventional conferencing systems that have a good AEC. The Voice Tracker™ II has its own built in AEC, and consequently can be used with VoIP systems that do not have a robust AEC. Looks really cool, though.

dwiel 11y ago

We got one of these for our office so the remote guys can hear during meetings and it is terrible. We'll all be sitting at a table, and the remote people can only hear every other person at the table. There are random empty spots where it doesn't hear, or it will put all of the focus on some people talking quietly on the other side of the room instead of the person talking right next to it. We've had the best luck with a Jabra microphone. Perhaps it would work better in large rooms with only one person talking, but its hard to say. We also had good luck with the microphone on the dropcam, but people thought it was too much like a security camera and made them uncomfortable.