Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Nebraska District Adopts Audio Enhancement in Classrooms

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 12/13/21

Nebraska's Lincoln Public Schools has gone public with its implementation of an audio enhancement system that allows teachers' and students' voices to be more easily heard throughout the entire classroom, including behind face masks. The district is working with Audio Enhancement, a company that produces classroom AV products.

The teacher microphone system, which was adopted in 2016, consists of a lanyard-style microphone that teachers wear around their necks. With a touch of a button on the lanyard, teachers can pair the microphone with an Audio Enhancement amplifier and its related speakers to amplify their voices. The outcome is that students sitting anywhere in the room can hear their voices at the same volume.

The system can also offer the option of a student microphone that can be passed around the classroom so that students hear their peers' responses and feel like their voices are heard.

Audio Enhancement's system accommodates paired teacher microphones for those co-teaching with another instructor, making it simple for both instructors to engage with the classroom together.

"All students deserve to hear what their teachers and peers have to say without difficulty," said Stephen Joel, the district's superintendent, in a press release. "Audio Enhancement's teacher microphone system has allowed us to increase equitable audio access for all students in our classrooms, providing a much richer classroom experience that has translated to better outcomes for our students and teachers alike."

The school district is also currently testing two additional products from the company. The Signal Alert for Education (SAFE) System lets a teacher press buttons on the same lanyard microphone for three seconds, to alert school officials that help is needed. The office can then discreetly let teachers know via the lights on the microphone that help is on the way.

VIEWpath provides for video capture and recording, enabling teachers to record lessons in the classroom to share with students later. The system can also be used to record incidents as they occur.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • UT-San Antonio Begins Residence Hall Renovations

    The University of Texas at San Antonio recently began a $6-million renovation project to one of its residence halls, according to a news release. Originally completed in 1986, Chisolm Hall measures in at 120,860 square feet and is the oldest and largest residence hall on campus.

  • Q&A: How to Prevent Kitchen Grease Fires in Commercial Kitchens

    School cafeterias and university dining halls serve thousands of meals daily, relying on high-heat equipment like fryers, grills, and ovens. While these operations keep students fed, they also generate significant grease-laden vapors. Without proper controls, this grease becomes a silent fire threat. As a certified exhaust cleaning specialist and business coach who has helped hundreds of institutional facilities achieve NFPA 96 compliance, I emphasize that proactive grease management isn’t optional; it’s a core fire/life safety practice.

  • Nashville Elementary School Receives LEED Gold Certification

    Goodlettsville Elementary School, part of Metro Nashville Public Schools in Nashville, Tenn., recently achieved LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), according to a news release. The 81,750-square-foot school opened in 2023 and was designed by Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC).

  • Sam Houston State University Completes Athletic Stadium Renovations

    Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, recently announced the reopening of Elliott T. Bowers Stadium after an extensive renovation project, according to a news release. The university partnered with Stantec and DLR Group for the project’s design.