The Project
Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company with its international headquarters in St. Louis, MO. Within the past 5 years, Sigma built a unique, architectural dome-shaped auditorium with ample room for executive forums. As large and beautiful as this building is, it was unable to hold multiple conversations due to the amount of reverb in the auditorium. Sigma found that when people 15 to 20 feet apart, tried to carry on a conversation, they couldn’t hear each other. Improper delay and sound reverberation due to inappropriately placed IR sensors and
inefficient speaker placement were to blame. Sigma needed a specialist to solve their audio problems. Innovative Technology Group (ITG) was brought in to provide a solution. “There was nothing wrong with the equipment that was purchased for this room - in fact, it was high quality product,” explains George Brosie, Director of Engineering for ITG, “However, the system was not installed by an audio engineer. As a result, the DSP was not programmed with the optimum audio levels in mind.”

The Result
To fix the overall audio reverb issue, an acoustic engineer was brought in to analyze the room with precision instrumentation that assessed how much sound dampening was needed. ITG worked with the acoustician to determine the type of speaker, the proper quantity of speakers, and the ideal sound decibel level to minimize the new acoustic treatments that were needed. “We put in around
7000 square feet of treatment,” explains Mr. Brosie, “And integrated mics into the tables to be used for in-room support, question/answer sessions, and audioconferencing.” ITG also installed more
speakers at a lower volume, which made the tables look more symmetrical with the cable cubbies. They placed one microphone per cable cubby resulting in a room that not only functioned better, but was also more architecturally and aesthetically pleasing. This, however, meant that speaker angles, dispersion patterns, and DSP programming had to be modified for optimum performance. >>>read more