CAN EVERYONE HEAR ME?” It’s the question teachers ask and are expected to fulfill every day. However, loudness does not guarantee a clear voice. Words may be audible without being easily understood or even intelligible. In classrooms, the gap between hearing and comprehending can be the difference between students keeping pace with a lesson or falling behind. A direct contradiction to the outcome desired. “The difference lies in distortion,” explains Jim Goetz, CEO of Cetacea Sound. “Distortion is more insidious than everyday classroom noise like chairs scraping and shoes tapping on the floor, which may be a distraction but is somewhat manageable. Room distortion happens when amplified sound bounces off the floor, ceiling, walls and windows arriving at the student’s ears as reverberation and echo, which reduce comprehension. Even worse is the fact that every room is different.” Improved classroom clarity and improved learning come from delivering sound that is evenly distributed and distortionfree. All too often, classroom audio choices include the purchase of low-cost equipment like portable speakers, boom boxes, home theater systems, and even soundbars which are not designed to address the unique challenges of classroom acoustics. Too often, this leads to decisions based on personal opinion and preferences rather than the requirement of improving speech intelligibility. The Cetacea Sound solution has become popular because it is specifically designed for the classroom, aiming to minimize the effects of classroom distortion on intelligibility. Its classroom audio system, a “SOUND FIELD,” pairs the ASTRONAUT speaker with ORBITER microphones, producing high clarity intelligible speech across the classrooms and helping reduce inherent distortion. The patented speaker’s shape and custom-designed transducer distribute low-distortion sound evenly so that every student hears the same sound as the others. The room becomes the “sweet spot” rather than just a few privileged seats. By placing the speaker overhead, clear, intelligible speech reaches the students’ ears before inherent room distortion, which improves comprehension caused by echoes and reverberation. For schools that have not upgraded their classrooms with architectural acoustic treatments, this is a game-changer. Voice clarity in the classroom increases meaningful engagement with students. Lower distortion raises student attention and understanding. Administrators note that the increased engagement leads to calmer and more focused students, a shift they attribute to students’ improved ability to comprehend spoken instructions and lessons. Most striking were the reactions of some children who relied on assisted listening devices. For the first time, they were able to participate equally with their classmates without physical hearing aids; an independence that one director described as “transformational.” “Our goal is not just audibility but equity. Clarity should not depend on where a child sits. It should be universal, and that’s what we are here to offer,” says RJ Goetz, Director of Sales and Marketing. Presenting the Teacher’s Voice, True and Clear to Each Student Preserving the fidelity and intelligibility of the teacher’s voice by presenting it to the student’s ears before it becomes distorted is the objective. The system accomplishes its objective in part by focusing on the band and frequencies roughly in the 300 Hz to 15 kHz range, which are critical for speech intelligibility. Within this range, vowels give speech its nuances and innuendo while the sharper consonants—“s,” “t,” “f,” and “k”—deliver the detail that makes words intelligible in all languages.