Shure's Microflex Wireless and ULX-D Systems help Alvik School equip students for lifelong learning

To create a flexible and compact wireless microphone system that was  unobtrusive, easy to use and scalable enough to fit multiple systems  across various classrooms within a limited radio spectrum, while also  tackling the issue of differing latency limitations of hearing aid  technology.

Working with the school’s existing hearing aid technology, Shure’s  Microflex® Wireless (MXW) and ULX -D systems were deployed to help  bring conversation directly to the ears of each student suffering from  hearing difficulties.

Gear List

· Shure’s Microflex® Wireless (MXW) and ULX -D systems

· Shure bodypack transmitters

· Shure table top gooseneck microphones

· Shure directional headset microphones

Students (and teachers) who are hard of hearing are now fully  immersed in classroom activities, while teachers can enjoy the enhanced  practicality and performance the system delivers.

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Alvik School in Sweden caters for over 1,050 students, from Reception  up to Grade 9. About 120 of the school’s students are hard of hearing,  which can have a detrimental effect on the learning experience.

Conventional wired sound reinforcement systems were initially tested,  but these limited the movement of students and teachers within the  classroom environment.

As such, Alvik School wanted a compact, unobtrusive solution that was  scalable enough to fit many systems on a limited radio arrangement,  while being easy to operate and convenient to charge. It was at this  point that Shure’s Microflex® Wireless (MXW) system was discovered,  delivering everything that the school needed to help with the students’  learning journey.

Borrowing equipment from a local distributor, the system was tested  within a small number of classrooms with positive results. Pleased with  the progress, the school purchased its first systems and called on the  specialist help and knowledge of Hörservice Pontus Egerö AB to design  and manage the installation.

Employing a novel hybrid of audio and hearing assistance  technologies, the MXW system captures the voice of students and teachers  and brings conversation directly to the ears of students, without the  need for feeding the audio through conventional loudspeakers.

Instead, the audio is connected to a wire loop in the floor or  ceiling of the classroom that radiates the signal directly to the  students’ hearing aids. Students then simply switch their hearing aid to  ‘T’ mode (for Teleloop or Telecoil) and it picks up the audio being  transmitted through the magnetic field.

As the buildings were renovated, the school was able to install this  unique approach to a hearing loop system with low cross talk in all the  classrooms. These were later equipped with MXW systems, with around 19  rooms in the Middle and High School now featuring MXW attached to the  hearing loop system.

Alvik School has continued to invest in technology to optimise the  learning experience even further for hard of hearing students. Embracing  the developments in hearing aid technology, the school looked at  combating the differing latency limitations of various hearing aid  technologies.

While standard hearing aids experience latency of around 5-6ms, in  cochlear implants this is significantly higher, even upwards of 20ms.  When Shure introduced a table microphone to the ULX-D digital wireless  system with much lower latency, it was immediately of interest to the  school. And when the time came to update the equipment at the Lower  School, ULX-D was chosen instead of MXW and is now featured in 11  classrooms.

Students and teachers at Alvik School have praised the positive  results that the new systems have brought to the learning experience,  with one student commenting: “The best thing about the school is the  support you get from the teachers and the hearing technology – you get a  different type of support and more personal contact.”

Hörservice Pontus Egerö AB is a specialist hearing aid installation  company with over 30 years’ experience in delivering hearing aid  solutions operating throughout the region of Stockholm