Sound solutions for classes in cultural halls

We have 2nd-hour classes in the cultural hall (like everyone else does). I've had many complaints that it's hard to hear comments from class members. We've tried passing around microphones, but folks are afraid of them, they interrupt the flow, and people then just stay quiet. Many people who say they have a loud voice really don't. I've had enough complaints (from our ward and the 2 Senior wards we share the Stake Center with) that I need(?) to work on a solution. Since I can't force people to speak loud, I've come here for ideas.

Has anyone used a parabolic microphone for class comments? How much difference would it make? I'd like to experiment, but the cost scares me away.

A few low-tech ideas:

1. Depending on the building and the size of your class, it may help to make sure the curtains are being closed as needed. In my previous ward where we had a class in the cultural hall, we fit in one section of the cultural hall, but sometimes the curtain to the next section was left open. When it was left open, participation was harder. This is both because of the acoustics, and because of the tendency for people to spread out when more space is available.

2. If you have a stage next to the cultural hall, make sure the curtains of the stage are closed as well.

3. Another thing that might help is playing around with the configuration of the chairs (maybe in a semicircle, or in diagonal rows, so members can face each other somewhat).

4. Finally, if the full room isn't being used, it may help to have all of the chairs at one side or corner of the room, instead of in the middle, to maximize the nearby walls that sound can bounce off of.

Unfortunately, this is in a Stake Center with half the gym - it's a BIG room. It just sucks up whatever sound is there. The older folks can't hear when they're there - and over Zoom it's even worse. I've given up trying to control the people (chair locations, pass-around mic, etc), so I'm looking for something that I CAN control. A unidirectional mic will pick up EVERYTHING - especially those close by it - and may have a problem with feedback. So I'm thinking of parabolic, but I don't have any experience with those.

You might consider a "shotgun" microphone that a facilitator can use to point at the person speaking. They're highly directional and most have noise cancellation ability from off-angle sounds. Here's a good list ranging from the low hundreds to the low thousands.

https://microphonegeeks.com/pro/shotgun-microphone/

I presume you share the building with another ward? What do they do to combat the issue?

Have FM been notified of the issue? We have several buildings that have various acoustic panels and other treatments that have been retrofitted to improve issues like this.

I'm struggling to get my head around this issue to be honest. Thousands of wards around the world also meet in the cultural hall for Sunday School and don't have any problems?

Sbradshaw gives some great pointers. The optimum way to reduce adverse acoustics through seating arrangement is to set up the teacher in a corner and then all the class chairs diagonally facing the corner so that they are not parallel to any wall.
You end up with a pizza shaped seating arrangement.

All free ideas that are worth a shot before requesting £££s from a presiding leader, I'm pretty confident that FM wouldn't entertain a request to supply such a microphone.

I assume this is for Gospel Doctrine. Note that you can split the class so they'll fit into the smaller rooms available. This gives more members opportunity to participate.

Wattsuk wrote: Thu Aug 25, 2022 12:33 am Thousands of wards around the world also meet in the cultural hall for Sunday School and don't have any problems?

The problems are probably more frequent than people realize.

While some people may mention that it's difficult to hear, many people will not.

Another big problem is that people are often times uncomfortable telling someone that they have hearing loss/difficulty. When I find out about this, it's often times indirectly from someone who knows the person having difficulty. Unfortunately, over the years, I have found that there are people who go through the motions of going to church, but miss the experience because they can't hear well or understand the words clearly.

The buildings are equipped with an audio assistance system in the chapels (which most members don't know about). If your chapel is in use by another ward or another class at the time you're having class in the cultural hall, you're out of luck; however, if the chapel sound system is turned off, it's possible that your system is set up to broadcast cultural hall audio over the hearing assistance system. In the newer systems, it's just programming. In fact, one of our buildings is programmed so that if the chapel and cultural hall systems are off, the audio assistance system will get audio from the Relief Society room sound system.

Unfortunately, it's also a challenge to get many teachers comfortable with using a microphone (and using it well). A wireless headset microphone would probably be the best (although some women don't like them because they can mess up their hair), with a corded headset possibly more affordable and workable...but there's that darn cord.

So, I'm sure lots of wards have been struggling with this. Also, one of the things that I have learned since getting this calling is that there are a number of people who (a) dont realize or (b) are too stubborn to acknowledge that they have a hearing problem.

The easiest way I have found is to have a mic for the instructor and then 2 pass-around wireless mics. Stake centers are able to request a 4-mic wireless system (that may be overkill for every Sunday use and Stake Tech Specialist may be reluctant to do that). But all buildings should be able to request the Audio-Technica ATW-R1100 (or equivalent) (see https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/mi ... /system-10). I've used these to transmit the full length of a cultural hall. If you have two, you might want a mixer. Also, I had an issue where the cultural hall mics were set to "2-second delay" to prevent feedback. I had to have the FM group come out to fix that.

The challenge, as you mentioned, is that it does slow the flow, and many members are reluctant / kind of hostile "Do I really need that?" When we were broadcasting Sunday School over Zoom, it was *super* important (otherwise no one at home can here what the audience members say). Before I could answer "We really need it for Zoom." Now, I just say, "You know, I can hear you just fine, but Sister cute-little-grandma here can't here anything if it's not mic'd and she didn't want to make a fuss..." Or something. The key is to be nice and say it with a smile of course. If you have two "runners" who can hurry the mic to where people are sitting, you can *kind of* make it work. But you have be consistent, and the mics need to be set up at the beginning of class.

That's the only way I have found that kind of works. Because, as you say, the Cultural Hall really, really absorbs the sound otherwise.

I've just ordered some pit foam cubes and a 2 channel wireless lapel microphone system to DIY a budget version of the catchbox pro throwable microphone.

One lapel mic will stay on the teacher and the other will be safely tucked into the foam cube that can be easily thrown or passed about.

Not ideal for every Sunday meeting really, having things thrown around. My application is slightly different but once I've got the bits together I'll probably record a little test run and stick it on YouTube if anyone is interested in something similar.

Youth and young adult conferences is the ideal church application in my mind but I'm sure there are other uses.