It wasn’t too long ago that conference room audio consisted of a lowly speakerphone. In the U.S., some of the first speakerphones were speaker add-ons to the ubiquitous Bell system phones in executive offices and boardrooms. In the 1980s and 1990s,  Polycom’s (Poly today) popular Soundstation speakerphones did much to diminish the use of the phrase “can you hear me now” at the start of every conference call.

Audio is still critically important in today’s age of video conferencing, hybrid workplaces, and fully remote teams. For individuals working on a laptop or even a smartphone, being heard is not problematic with the ever-higher quality of microphones in these devices and software DSP that can mitigate ambient noise. In a small huddle room, all-in-one devices like a Poly soundbar with a camera and microphone employ beam-forming microphones that do a reasonably good job capturing a small group. However, put a large group of people in a conference room, and the auditory challenges increase significantly.

Let’s take a closer look below at some of the issues and ways to improve sound quality and intelligibility in conference room audio-video systems.

Many companies have adopted a new breed of unified communications solutions like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Workspace, and others. The reasons are straightforward – these platforms put all the necessary forms of collaboration and communication under one roof with excellent integration. Voice, messaging, videoconferencing, online meetings, document sharing, and mobile applications are all within a common interface with one login credential and strong administrative features for the organization.

It’s no secret that the U.S. (and the global) population is aging. Credit modern medicine with increasing lifespans, but it doesn’t mean that the elderly population won’t need greater assistance in the latter parts of their lives. According to projections by the Population Reference Bureau, by 2060, the number of people aged 65 or over will increase to 95 million from 52 million in 2018. The elderly will account for almost a quarter of the U.S population at that point.

At the same time, chronic diseases are on the rise at a significant rate in this aging population. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and other ailments will necessitate that much of this population will need assistance, from assisted living facilities to full nursing homes. This burgeoning increase in demand for care will also necessitate better, faster training techniques for current and future nursing professionals. Nursing simulation labs are one tool that can help. Keep reading below to learn more about how the Level 3 Audiovisual SimStation simulation suite adapts to the training requirements for skilled nursing care.

Digital signage is a popular solution for imparting information that informs and engages various audiences and constituencies. Two broad technology advances are adding additional intelligence to digital signage solutions to make them even more effective, engaging, and important. One is cloud-connected management, and the other is artificial intelligence (AI).

You might already be thinking, aren’t those two areas the underpinnings of almost every smart device today? Of course, you’re right. But it wasn’t so many years ago that many digital signage systems were based on a local player attached to a display screen via USB. Today, cloud-based content management and monitoring make it much easier to keep a large network of digital displays of all sizes running fresh content and enabling more sophisticated communication campaigns. In addition, AI enables more intelligent and customized approaches to digital signage display solutions. Let’s take a look at three innovative applications for digital signage.

How big should your display be? This is a seemingly simple question, but answering it gets difficult, quickly. We used to base the answer simply on task level and furthest viewer in the room. Then we based the answer on how large text would be on the screen. Most recently, we base it on how large the “elements” we need to perceive are relative to the screen size. I think all these different methods have their benefits and shortcomings. However, in the end, it comes down to the users’ needs. Let’s explore these different methods and perhaps come up with a new take to best meet our needs.

Will the hybrid work model be just a passing fad? As pandemics fade into memory, will companies demand that workers get back into physical offices in the name of productivity and fostering interpersonal relationships? We can’t predict the future, but the reality is that hybrid work was already a growing trend thanks to technological advancements.

Twenty years ago, knowledge workers could telecommute (a now quaint-sounding term) with voice and internet access. The experience was less than perfect, as the integration of offsite staff into onsite meetings and activities was not quite there with the existing technology. The advent of unified communication and collaboration (UCC) solutions provided powerful and scalable tools for workers to have a common platform that worked not only in the office but anywhere with a solid internet connection.

These solutions, embodied by such platforms as Cisco/WebEx, Microsoft, Zoom, RingCentral, Google, and others, provide a rich set of tools for knowledge work, unifying voice, video, messaging, collaboration, presence, and meeting tools into easy-to-use software. Further, these solutions have all moved into cloud-hosted SaaS (Software as a Service) models, making them easier to administer, manage, and scale.

How does this unified communication as a service model impact hybrid work? Read on below for more

Recently we posted about how the user experience is driving the modernization of AV systems and services. In the modern, connected world, everyone is a user and consumer of AV technology. The pandemic of the past two years created Zoom experts out of grandparents that had never video-conferenced in their lives. With the seismic shift to hybrid work models, the ability to see and talk to someone on a computer or device is merely baseline functionality.

So, users in the workplace - home workplaces too – have high expectations for AV systems. They need to be easy to use, allow them to multitask, hold large and inclusive meetings, and have sophisticated tools that integrate easily to share information and freely collaborate. As we noted – and you already know – this is a software-driven world. The smartphone showed the world how you build a smart device with an almost-ready-for-prime time feature set and proceed to make it far more powerful and usable with three years of software updates. Tesla applies that model to automobiles, in an industry not previously known for any upgrades that didn’t involve buying a new vehicle. One of the last industries to catch on is AV, and that presents new challenges.

Modern smart conference room technology is more dependent on software than hardware for the new features and services that today’s workforce expects and demands. And software is a different model when it comes to management. Keep reading below for an outline of three trends that are changing the game in AV services management.

With Level 3’s philanthropy mission to help children and families, we focus our efforts on activities that will make a lasting impact. This quarter we have partnered with GiGi’s playhouse, an organization with a mission to change the way the world views Down Syndrome and send a global message of acceptance for all.

World Down syndrome Day is celebrated on March 21^st to honor Down Syndrome people who have 3 of their 21^st chromosome. We joined the celebration by raising donations to Gigi’s playhouse and asking our employees and community to wear crazy socks, highlighting our differences as individuals.