New course will let your voice be heard

[ OVER RECENT YEARS the explosion in technology available to churches in terms of sound systems and accompanying audio-visual capability has led to a revolution in the way worship is delivered. The music element has emerged from the choir stalls and organ loft to take centre stage in worship, with accompanying visual imagery.

One constant throughout that time, however, has been the spoken word: no service can be delivered without a sermon or homily.

When the service is of a particular seriousness – such as a wedding, funeral or baptism – the spoken word takes on an even more important role. The ability to hear what is being said is paramount.

All too often, however, the spoken word is far from clear, either because of the acoustics in an ancient building or insufficient attention being paid to the speech element of the sound system.

Now, however, a new training course is available to sound and AV engineers aimed at designing-in the ability to understand the spoken word when installing AV systems. Designing for Speech Intelligibility is the latest addition to the suite of courses being delivered on behalf of the Institute of Sound, Communications and Visual Engineers (ISCVE).

Anyone who has ever tried to listen to a conversation in a noisy room or space knows how important speech intelligibility is, ISCVE states.

“In order for messages to be communicated effectively we need to be able to understand words that are being spoken to us. Often poor speech intelligibility is a common problem in poorly-designed sound systems. For example, if the ratio of noise to speech becomes too high, the brain has difficulty decoding the speech signal, leading to frustration and communication breakdowns.”

Designing for Speech Intelligibility gives sound engineers the ability to design a sound system that will allow speech to be heard clearly in any setting – a Godsend for churches and clergy everywhere.

ISCVE continued: “This training course will teach you everything you need to know about designing sound systems that provide clear, intelligible speech. Through a combination of lectures and handson exercises, you’ll learn about the key factors affecting speech intelligibility and how to optimise sound systems for maximum clarity.” q