About Eddy Bøgh Brixen

Eddy B. Brixen is a consultant and the owner of EBB-consult in Denmark. He is also part time employed with DPA Microphones where he is connected with R&D and applications activities. As a lecturer he holds positions with the Danish National School of Performing Arts, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and University of Copenhagen. Eddy B. Brixen is the author of a number of textbooks on electro acoustics of which “Audio Metering” published by Focal Press is one. He is a member of the EBU working group on Loudness in Broadcast and is currently chair of the AES’ Technical Committee on Microphones and Applications.

Body worn microphones and speech intelligibility

In broadcast (television), wireless body worn microphones are widely used. This includes headset microphones, chest worn lav mics, or even necklace microphones. Sometimes the microphones are intentionally left visible, sometimes - like in drama productions - the microphones are hidden. However, the placement has an influence on both timbre and especially speech intelligibility. Optimizing the signal for higher speech intelligibility is an issue more important than ever, especially in drama productions.

This presentation will go through important facts on speech intelligibility, on the microphone selection, on relevant specifications, on the placement and the processing typically needed as a function of the placement. Also, the noise suppression obtained by various microphones is demonstrated. All of this is supported by sound samples.

Digital wireless microphones

Digital wireless microphone systems are widely present in the marketplace. There are different opinions on these systems regarding the application in broadcast and drama production. However, the digital systems offer facilities, which were not possible in the analog domain: More operating high quality channels per MHz bandwidth, encryption, compander free modulation, better signal to noise ratio, improved reception of low level signals, etc. Aside from that, it is common that the systems exhibit an extremely flat frequency response. On the other hand, a less wanted digital “fingerprint” is the latency; and the RF radiation has a new spectrum that in some cases causes trouble.

Based on experience, this presentation seeks to provide a fair overview of systems, advantages and disadvantages.