Talk to anyone who’s been in a conference call, and they’ll tell you that ambient noises sometimes drive them crazy. They talk about the clatter of keyboards as people do work during calls. Rustling papers sometimes overwhelm the call and interfere with hearing what people are saying. Then add in the hum of fans on flat-panel displays and heating and air conditioning systems, and it feels like the perfect storm of noises to interfere with getting work done.
While it’s tempting to think that it would be a simple matter to ask or tell people to keep ambient noise levels low, that is wishful thinking. Really – you want people to adapt to the technology and change their behavior? How about having technology adapt to people and environmental conditions?
Overcoming the complaints about ambient noise and its interference with conference call experiences has driven the definition of all Nureva® audio conferencing systems. One of the first things we did was take the microphones off the table and put them on the wall. This design choice accomplished two things – getting the microphones away from the source of much of the distracting ambient noise and delivering a clean design aesthetic that so many companies now prefer.
Then we applied technology to lessen the impact of the constant noises coming from HVAC – something we call intelligent sound targeting (IST). Because HVAC noises have a constant hum, IST can target them and simply stop picking them up.
We believe that technology can do much to improve our lives and the way that we use products in our daily work. As product creators, we confront many of the established norms about the performance we can and should expect. We push the envelope and think about things differently. At Nureva, we want the technology to do the work so that our customers don’t have to. That’s the modern way – you shouldn’t expect less.
Nureva develops audio conferencing solutions based on its patented Microphone Mist technology. This innovative approach to microphone technology challenges the status quo of beamforming technology to deliver a superior conferencing experience – even on noisy calls.