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

  • College of the Desert Hits Construction Milestone on New Campus

    College of the Desert recently announced that the construction of its new Palm Springs Campus in Palm Springs, Calif., recently reached a major construction milestone, according to a news release. The college is partnering with general contractor C.W. Driver Companies, which recently “topped out” the facility by placing the final beam in its structure.

  • Deferred Maintenance Issues Growing at Universities, Gordian Reports

    U.S. colleges and universities are falling increasingly behind on facilities maintenance and repair, according to Gordian’s 13th annual State of Facilities in Higher Education report. The deferred capital renewal burden has reached $156 per gross square foot, an 8% increase over the previous year.

  • UT System Approves First Funds for New Campus

    The University of Texas System Board of Regents recently approved funds to build the first facility of a new campus in far west Fort Worth, Texas, according to university news. UTA West will serve as a branch of the University of Texas at Arlington and is scheduled to open in fall 2028.

  • Armstrong World Industries Acquires Parallel Architectural Products

    Armstrong World Industries, provider of interior and exterior architectural applications, recently announced that it has acquired the Colorado-based Parallel Architectural Products, according to a news release.