The system - designed to alert staff both visually and audibly to a possible emergency situation - is networked via BSS Soundweb 9088 digital devices. In standby mode, the block of six rooms is monitored using boundary microphones installed above the bed heads. The control panel features audio activity LED to indicate which room or rooms may need attending, while staff are able to use the visual monitor to identify which room to listen to more closely, using a solo room-select button. The threshold sensitivity of the microphone may be adjusted so that unwanted background noise is not relayed to the loudspeaker monitor.
Following the success of the pilot scheme at St. Pier’s, a newly-developed audio monitoring system has now been installed in the MRI unit at the National Society for Epilepsy in Chalfont St. Peter, where the audio design this time involves two wings of six rooms. Each wing is linked to its own Soundweb 9088 DSP unit, both devices controlled by a Kelsey Acoustics-built custom controller. LMC Audio acted as consultants and commissioning agents for the system. "This system represents a considerable advance on the pilot scheme and was developed in association with the staff of St. Pier’s to incorporate significant new features," confirms ScanAudio’s Dee Couchman. These include individual microphone level, on/off switching and a new visual display of audio levels via a TFT flat screen monitor. This is designed to give better feedback of the operational status of the system, and improved user control options.
Since this assessment centre caters for adults, ScanAudio have addressed the need for privacy by installing boundary microphones alongside the bed-heads. These microphones are fitted with a membrane on/off switch to allow a patient to switch the microphone off as needed. The audio monitoring system is centrally controlled. In standby mode up to 12 rooms may be monitored simultaneously. Active room mics are indicated by an illuminated panel LED on the staff control console, whilst the audio level is permanently displayed on a 15" TFT monitor. Each block of six rooms has its own microphone sensitivity threshold control and also a room-select ‘solo’ control, which may be used to select an individual room or the entire block for monitoring. In other words, the audio activity is entirely driven from the outputs of Soundweb, operating threshold control - and the mic lines are fed into a push button set-up on the control panel.
(Ruth Rossington)
