Large Area Assistive Listening Systems: Review and Recommendations

3.3 Need for "Overriding" Principle

Because there are so many permutations regarding types and conditions of microphone usage, it would be helpful to have some overriding principle that can be applied generally, to all situations in which microphones are picking up "live" signals.

The principle used by the Lexington Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) was to emphasize the integrity of the sound signal as it is delivered through earphones by focusing on defined electroacoustic products. This concept can be employed for both live and recorded transmissions. It gives installers and manufacturers wide latitude in how they reach these electroacoustic goals. The concept and the research project through which we arrived at our performance recommendations will be expanded upon at length in the last section of this paper.