University challenge
Published: MEA
The Great Hall at the United Arab Emirates University’s new campus in Al Ain proved to be a challenging acoustic environment. How could the university ensure its lecturers could be understood? James Ling reports
In a teaching environment, a lack of intelligibility is a major issue. If students cannot hear their lecturer clearly, how can they be expected to understand the meaning of the message being delivered? Fortunately for the students at the new campus of the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) this will not be a problem they face, thanks to a tailored audio solution.
Established in 1976, the University is the oldest and largest higher educational institution in the UAE. Following an extensive building project, it has recently consolidated all of its existing facilities into a single state-of-the-art 1.2 sq-km campus located in Al-Maqam in the city of Al Ain. The new facility features approximately 290,000 sq-m of newly built teaching and recreational facilities as well as accommodation for UAEU’s students.
With only minimal acoustic treatment, the Great Hall at the new campus proved to be a challenging setting. At 75m long and 40m wide with a balcony area approximately 15m deep, the 1,400 person auditorium is essentially a very reverberant concrete box with large reflective glass windows running down either side. Acoustic treatment in the Hall included some panelling on the ceiling and sound absorbing carpet on the floor, but the rest of the space was unable to be treated. However, the university has been able to open its new campus with clear sound in the Hall thanks mainly to a well designed and specified audio system.
The challenge of the design, build and operation of the campus-wide ICT systems for this prestigious venue fell to Dubai-based systems integrator Visionaire. The company was aiming to create a scalable next generation network supporting IPTV, voice and video data with real time intelligent infrastructure management and content delivery. Under this remit, it also took care of the university’s audio systems.
To meet the audio challenge of the Great Hall, Visionaire opted for a solution from Tannoy which was procured through Dubai-based distributor Thomsun Trading. The obvious answer to the reverberant nature of the auditorium was to use beam steering technology. As such, the integrator selected a pair of QFlex 48 digitally steerable arrays to provide the speech reinforcement across the lower seating area.
These self-powered column loudspeakers have been mounted discretely, one on either side of the stage, and programmed with customised steering files tailor designed specifically for that space, to focus the acoustic energy on the audience area and away from reflective surfaces – the key to delivering significantly improved intelligibility.
QFlex is able to achieve even, full-range coverage and SPL which is maintained across the listening plane, and is able to create an asymmetrical pattern to allow similar SPLs both in the near and far field. It can steer focused beams of acoustic energy to frequencies beyond 12kHz, which makes it suitable for full-range musical material as well as spoken word. This degree of versatility and control was reportedly one of the main reasons behind the decision to specify Tannoy’s solution.
Added to the QFlex are three iS52 speakers fitted on top of the stage which provide dedicated near fill support to the front rows of the auditorium. An additional pair of Vs 15BP compact subwoofers provide extended low frequency response for the QF48s during the playback of music, as well as support during video presentations.
While the QFlex system was the answer to part of the problem in the Great Hall, it was not the complete picture. A distributed ceiling speaker system divided into a number of different zones was also installed for occasions when the stage area isn’t used and the seating has been reconfigured.
To provide coverage across both the lower seating area and the upper balcony, Visionaire installed 25 Tannoy CMS 1201 DCt large format 12-inch dual concentric speakers. In addition to this, under the balcony it opted for 20 of the physically smaller CMS 501DCBM full bandwidth two-way ceiling speakers to provide the coverage.
The entire sound system is powered by Crown amplifiers, while Visionaire also opted for a Biamp Audia Flex DSP to handle the processing. Completing the solution are a pair of Daktroniks LED screens either side of the stage cover the visual element of the installation in the Great Hall.
Surround sound lectures
While the Great Hall was a high profile part of the project, it was not the only audio system Visionaire installed. Away from the auditorium, the systems integrator also provided the sound system for teaching areas such as the lecture theatres. While most of these use a fairly standard solution, one such venue also received a full surround sound setup from the integrator.
When it is in its teaching configuration, the lecture theatre is a medium sized presentation suite with a raised stage area and a banked seating arrangement. Audio comes from a pair of Tannoy VNet 15s which provide front of house left and right. A further pair of VNet 12HPs are hung above the stage and are in use for the centre channel. Two VNet 18 DR subwoofers complete the system by handling the low frequencies. All of these Vnet-enabled devices sit on the same network as the QFlex 48s – allowing remote tuning, commissioning and ongoing monitoring of this main component of the system via the manufacturer’s proprietary Vnet Software.
In addition to this system, a pair of VNet 12s have been provided for on stage monitoring. Also on the monitoring side, the lecture theatre’s control room benefits from the installation of two active Tannoy Reveal 601a studio monitors. Once again, processing for the system is handled by a Biamp Audia Flex DSP.
The suite is additionally configured for playback of suitably encoded surround sound source material. In this arrangement, an additional 12 Power V6 enclosures are put to use for side and rear surround FX channels, with processing in this setup handled by Lexicon. The signal feed for the surround channels is via a pair of Tannoy SC1 (VNet) system controllers, incorporating these elements into the main VNet network.
As would be expected with a surround setup, there is also a powerful visual element to the lecture theatre. Projection is courtesy of Christie, while Visionaire once again opted for Daktronics to provide the LED screens.
The overall solutions for both the Great Hall and the surround lecture theatre are something the university is reportedly very happy with, and it is understandable why. The correct application of audio technology has both tamed a challenging acoustic space and created a surround sound learning environment. The new campus at UAEU may have only recently opened its doors to its first intake of students, but it has already shown the benefits of getting the right acoustic solution.