Challenge
The “specialized hospital center” description is apt, as the Montreal Heart Institute is a sprawling campus that continues to grow. This includes the 2021 completion of two new buildings connected by a public atrium. The new construction features a dedicated training center with 15 conference rooms of varied sizes. These IT-centric collaborative spaces now formulate the core of the Institute’s learning and education programs.
Audio proved the greatest challenge to ensuring that both physical and remote attendees can hear clear, intelligible instruction, and collaborate on training exercises with ease as needed. Acoustic echo cancellation was especially important considering the hard, flat reflective surfaces common in square-shaped and rectangular conference rooms. Network interoperability and compact form factor were also required to facilitate quick and low-profile deployment, and IT-friendly operation, monitoring, and maintenance.
Solution
With 15 conference rooms to equip, Trizart, the AV/IT consultant for the project, specified a solution that would address all current requirements – and offer a modular design to support future expansion.
The complete solution includes a dedicated Xilica Solaro QR1 DSP for each room, discreetly mounted underneath the instructor’s lectern. The ultra-low-profile processor integrates Xilica’s HearClear AEC algorithms to expertly mitigate the acoustical challenges associated with reflective surfaces as sound reverberates off walls and desks during live instruction. HearClear AEC technology also works to eliminate in-room echo, and the echo generated by remote attendees joining classes via Microsoft Teams.
Xilica Solaro QR1’s impressive modularity provided greater value from an operational standpoint, while also offering plenty of capacity to accommodate future expansion inside each room. Each Solaro QR1 is equipped with Solaro XC-SUB 2×2 (send/receive) USB cards, providing volume and mute status sync for Microsoft Teams. Alongside supporting analog loudspeakers with pairings of XC-SLO output cards, the Solaro QR1 effortlessly processes and manages audio captured from Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling 2 microphones overhead via in-built Dante technology, enabling these feeds to be transported remotely on the network.
Impact
Xilica immediately solved the traditional problems of meeting space audio (challenging acoustics, distracting echo) while also addressing the modern needs or today’s IT-equipped collaboration rooms: ensuring that all attendees have clear-sounding, high-quality audio to learn and collaborate without limitations. The integrated HearClear AEC technology professionally removes all the disruption of poor-sounding audio, while built-in Dante audio networking streamlines operations, monitoring, and management. The modularity of Xilica’s systems also provide the additional advantage of scalability as hybrid training and education initiatives evolve on campus. continues to evolve.
