TU Delft is one of Europe’s oldest technical universities. Instructors and students study and innovate on the cutting edge of highly complex disciplines like building architecture, industrial design, civil engineering and aerospace.
It’s interesting then that when choosing classroom audio technology, a major emphasis is placed on technology that is, well … easy. When we asked Marco Buitenhuis, an AV/IT specialist at TU Delft, about why his team chose Nureva® audio for eight learning spaces, he told us simply, “We were looking for something that was easy to install, easy to use and easy to maintain — the other suppliers we looked at just didn’t offer that.”
The installation of the three Nureva HDL300 and five Dual HDL300 systems went as well as Marco hoped. And while TU Delft chose to have their AV integrator, PCI Systems, install the systems, installing Nureva can also be a simple project that takes about 30 minutes per microphone and speaker bar.
In the “easy-to-use” category, the TU Delft AV/IT team was very mindful about the user experience for instructors. In particular, they wanted to avoid any of the hassles associated with handheld, lapel or headset mics. With Nureva, they got what they were looking for. As Marco says, “The teachers are happy that they don’t have to wear a headset. They can just talk and walk throughout the room and be heard clearly by the students in the remote classroom.” Pauline Le, product owner of audiovisuals in the TU Delft AV/IT department, added, “Nureva audio is hands-free, so basically anybody in the room can be heard, which is a very big plus in interactive hybrid education.”
And then there are batteries. Freedom from having to find, charge or replace batteries comes up as an important benefit with many education technology pros we talk with. Marco feels the same: “One of the most important reasons that we chose Nureva was that we do not want to charge batteries or worry about forgetting where they are.”
Another way the TU Delft AV/IT team could keep things simple for instructors was to let them control the Nureva systems in their classrooms with the tools they were already using. In this case, many spaces at the school were equipped with Extron IP Link® Pro Series room control panels. As Marco tells us, “When the Nureva systems were introduced, we wanted to have a consistent experience for the teachers. We wanted them to be able to mute and unmute or change the volume through the Extron panel, because that’s the way they are used to doing it.”
The solution was an integration between Extron control processors and Nureva devices. It was made possible in part by the Nureva Developer Toolkit, which provides APIs to enable control integrations such as the one TU Delft desired.
Through consultations with the Extron development team, and supported by TU Delft, Nureva implemented a new authentication method better suited to hardware communications. This allowed Extron to add a Nureva-certified control system driver to its robust portfolio.
The result? A reliable, convenient and integrated experience through a single user interface that teachers are already familiar with. And this new control system driver is supported for both HDL systems as well as available for any Extron and Nureva customer to use.
In terms of easy maintenance, the TU Delft team appreciated that Nureva audio is virtually maintenance free and that their rooms are always ready. This is largely due to the continuous autocalibration feature in Nureva audio that automatically optimizes the audio for any space.
This was particularly important in some of the Nureva-equipped spaces that are designated as “project” rooms. These are spaces for about 50 students where chairs and tables may be set up in traditional rows but often need to be reconfigured into small groupings where students can work together.
Rearranging furniture and changing the way students are grouped can be a big challenge for traditional audio systems, possibly requiring a technician to adjust the audio every time a room is changed. But Nureva audio automatically adapts. “We don’t have to change anything,” says Marco. You can’t get easier than that.
Of course, the quality of the audio was important, too. Nureva delivered on this criterion. As Marco noted, “The feedback from teachers and students has been positive. And we appreciate the ability of Nureva audio to pick up talkers no matter where they move in the space. It’s a significant improvement over other systems we tried.” And letting a teacher speak and move naturally around the class and still be heard clearly by remote students is another way Nureva delivers on the “easy” promise.
One more easy thing about Nureva audio? The TU Delft team uses Nureva’s management platform, Nureva Console, to install updates with just a click. It also lets IT check the status of their devices and make adjustments from anywhere. But, as Marco says, “Once Nureva audio is installed and configured, there’s really no need to reconfigure or adjust it again.” Now that’s really easy.
Nureva has simplified everything about audio conferencing. Installation is an easy job you can do in about 30 minutes. You get true full-room coverage without the cost and hassles of multicomponent systems. And you can manage Nureva audio from anywhere.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published January 2022 and has been updated.