University of New Hampshire Debuts Hybrid Classrooms with Shure

The installed solution of Shure is based on the MXA910 ceiling microphone, the Dante network protocol, the P300-IMX processor and its Microflex wireless microphone system.

Founded in 1866 in the United States, the University of New Hampshire (in the United States) has dozens of academic departments, interdisciplinary institutes and schools and research centres. Its three main campuses are Durham, which houses more than 15.000 students; Concord, where the Franklin Pierce School of Law is located, and Manchester, with more than 1.000 Students.

In order to remain a cutting-edge academic and technological institution, AV technology upgrade is complete, which began largely as a result of the pandemic, to offer a hybrid training format. The project was started to 73 classrooms and the number has now increased to about two hundred.

Led by the so-called team Learning Space Technology Services, this project was as ambitious as it was complex, as its director points out, Marshall White: "We had previously renovated the AV facilities of the Paul College of Business and Economics with a solution that included the ceiling matrix microphone. MXA910 of Shure, and everything had gone very well. Our challenge was to do the same., but much faster and on a much larger scale".

Shure technicians and the university team gathered for a demonstration of the MXA910 ceiling array microphone, whose result is that it worked above their expectations, after which the updating of the classrooms began, that have integrated the specialists Red Thread Spaces and CCS New England.

As White explains, "although the team intended to replicate the same solution for each classroom., they found different constructions in each one, that had to be considered individually. Thanks to the modifications made with the software Shure Designer, a solution was found for each space, despite concerns about the acoustics and reflectivity of each room".

Although classroom configurations varied, the main products remained the same: MXA910 ceiling microphone, the digital audio network protocol dante of Shure, the processor P300-IMX and the wireless microphone system Microflex (MXW) from this manufacturer for larger rooms.

Shure's solution for the University of New Hampshire ensures students can attend classes in person or remotely, while providing teaching staff with the flexibility to lecture from home.

Teachers have little or no interaction with technology, which means ease of use is a substantial advantage. Teachers simply connect a USB to their computer and select a collaboration platform, either Zoom or others commonly used on campus. Cameras follow teachers around the room, while Shure ceiling microphones pick up audio with impeccable quality.

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