Course 140 – Speech Intelligibility for Public Address Systems

Most people are drawn to the sound business because of music reproduction. Ironically, sound system characteristics that are desirable for music systems can degrade the intelligibility of speech. Music quality is subjective, but speech intelligibility is objective. There are physics-based answers to the following questions.

This course will answer questions like:

• How do I measure a sound system’s ability to preserve information?

• Why does the music sound good, but I can’t understand the words?

• How is the Speech Transmission Index (STI) measured and predicted?

• What are the key acoustic ratios that contribute to speech intelligibility?

• What loudspeaker types produce the most intelligible public address systems?

The last two lessons includes case studies which include making measurements in actual rooms. This will help you connect the dots by implementing all the principles discussed in the lessons. You can replicate all of the exercises in a room of your choosing.

View or download a detailed course outline.

Course materials for you to keep include: main points, the video transcriptions, lesson graphics, IntelliKwik^TM app (Windows OS) interactive calculator, a certificate of completion and RUs & CEUs when you pass the final exam.

SynAudCon training is set up similar to college courses.  The lower level courses lay the foundational principles for the upper level courses.  Course 50 – How Sound Systems Work and Course 110 – Transformer-Distributed Loudspeaker Systems are the suggested perquisites for this course.  Taking the self-evaluation quizzes will help you determine if you need to take those courses first.