Re: placing microphones...

["PatrickLidstone" <patrickl@xxxxxxx>]

I hesitate to stir things up, but I think that siting of mics is 
largely irrelevant given the current state of speech recognition 
technology. I know (have commercial experience of...) the issues 
involved in non-trained speech recognition in confined quarters. It's 
hard to do without a limited grammar and shed-loads of hardware, I 
really doubt that it's ready for prime-time domestic use coupled with 
all kinds of extraneous background noise. I'd love to hear from 
anyone who can contradict me and has a 90%+ reliable system, cos then 
I could embrace an awesome technology completely :-)

> > Did you ever consider placing wireless microphones, instead of
> wired ones,
> > so you can place more of them, at more appropriate places?
> 
> I use (and own) wireless mics a lot as I'm involved in Video and 
> media production. There are a few problems with this method 
although 
> the quality is very good with a good mic: 1 - They're expensive; 2
-

> Battery life is relatively short (8Hrs or so - depends on 
> manufacturer); 3 - Hassle of wearing them - I can guarantee that 
you 
> wont after a while (unless you're a huge Big Brother fan!)

Wireless mikes for the hard-of-hearing will run for 40-50hrs 
continuously between charges, covering an area equivalent to a 
football pitch. I suspect the workable solution with today's 
technology is a freestanding cordless mic unit in each room, on a 
Pronto style docking station,  which occupants pick up to issue 
commands -- or the equivalent functionality using a wireless enabled 
Ipaq and VOIP.

Patrick

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