Revolutionary Microphone Mist technology

Nureva Microphone Mist technology logo

Microphone Mist™ Technology

Revolutionary for a reason

For years, conference call technology was stuck – leaving frustrated users hoping for the kind of breakthrough that has transformed other sectors.

Microphone Mist technology is that breakthrough. It fills a room with virtual microphones so everyone can be heard everywhere in a space, and remote callers feel like they’re in the room with the team.

The revolution is here. And it sounds amazing.

Microphone Mist – Virtual microphone

A virtual microphone is an individual “pickup point” created when two or more physical microphones work together to focus their sound pickup on a distinct zone. Microphone Mist technology listens to each virtual mic simultaneously and optimizes each one for a natural listening experience.

Dive deeper into virtual microphones

Compare coverage

Microphone Mist technology provides true full-room coverage while a traditional beamforming system may leave dead zones where people can’t be heard.

Beamforming
Microphone Mist technology
Beamforming room coverage
Microphone Mist room coverage
Processing power icon

Processing power

Advanced system processing capability: 15,000 MIPS for the HDL200 and HDL300. 25,000+ MIPS for Dual HDL300.
Advanced features icon

Advanced features

Position-based gain control, continuous autocalibration, full-duplex transmission, acoustic echo cancellation, built-in sound masking.
Evolving platform icon

Evolving platform

With a history of one groundbreaking innovation after another, you can count on Nureva solutions to constantly improve.
Patented innovation icon

Patented innovation

The Microphone Mist technology platform has four patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Microphone Mist technology - Active Zone Control feature

Active Zone Control

Using a simple interface, define the pickup zone for your presentations so you hear more presenter and less audience. It’s like crowd control for your audio.

See how Active Zone Control works
Nureva audio — Intelligent sound targeting (IST)

Intelligent sound targeting

IST preemptively identifies unwanted sounds, like HVAC, and simply stops picking them up. It’s kind of amazing. And completely unique.

See how IST works
Nureva audio - Designed for physical distancing

Designed for distancing

Ready for hybrid? Microphone Mist technology lets everyone be heard in meetings – no matter how they’re distanced. And Nureva audio automatically adapts if you reconfigure a space.

HDL series

We’ve got you covered

Nureva audio HDL series
Nureva HDL200 audio conferencing system for small spaces

HDL200

For small spaces up to
18' x 18'  |  5.5 x 5.5 m

Explore HDL200

Nureva HDL300 audio conferencing system for mid-size spaces

HDL300

For mid-size spaces up to
25' x 25'  |  7.6 x 7.6 m

Explore HDL300

Nureva Dual HDL300 audio conferencing system for large spaces

Dual HDL300

For large spaces up to
30' x 50'  |  9.1 x 15.2 m

Explore Dual HDL300

Why Nureva audio

Advanced audio

People can be heard anywhere in the room, so it’s easy to stay distanced without compromising on quality.

 

Simple setup

Quick DIY installation, no ongoing technician visits and continuous autocalibration let IT keep things simple.

 

Easy to scale

You’re ready to grow with models for varying spaces, firmware updates and centralized device management.

Learn more

Nureva Microphone Mist technology

Microphone Mist technology – Get a live online demo

Now hear the difference

The best way to appreciate the revolutionary performance of Microphone Mist technology is to hear it in our live, online demo.

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Virtual microphones: Real. Different.

With multiple patents, Microphone MistTM technology is truly a revolutionary advancement in audio conferencing. At its heart is the very real concept of virtual microphones. A virtual microphone is an individual audio pickup point created when two or more physical microphones work together to focus their pickup patterns on a specific zone. Each virtual mic behaves similarly to an omnidirectional microphone being placed at that point in the room. An HDL200 system deploys up to 4,096 virtual microphones, the HDL300 up to 8,192 and the Dual HDL300 up to 16,384.

 

The virtual mic advantage

Multiple digital signal processors (DSPs) combined with proprietary field-programmable gate array (FPGA) logic enable “positional” mic pickup. This allows the system to use position-based gain control (PBGC) to make specific optimizations to the microphone system and processing of all the sound sources in the room. These patented proprietary processes enable Nureva to optimize the talker’s gain while keeping ambient noise quieter and more constant. No matter where a person moves in the room, a virtual microphone is always nearby – and no detectable transition occurs as the talker moves between virtual mics as one might experience when moving between beams in a beamforming system.

Nureva audio virtual microphone bubble grid illustration

Active Zone Control (AZC)

Groundbreaking Active Zone Control lets you adjust the system’s virtual mics to emphasize pickup of the front of the room while inhibiting pickup from the virtual mics in the rest of the space. You hear more of the speaker and less of the audience.

Intelligent sound targeting (IST)

Traditional systems use “post-sound” filters to suppress unwanted sounds. But IST takes a “pre-sound” approach, using adaptive learning algorithms to preemptively identify unwanted sounds and then simply stop targeting them.

High-resolution

Microphone Mist technology subdivides a room into thousands of spatial bubbles. This allows the system to zoom in on individual talkers and optimize both acoustic microphone pickup performance and post-processing of the audio signal.

Patented innovation

Our groundbreaking approach has earned Nureva multiple United States patents, and we received Frost & Sullivan’s 2020 Global Technology Innovation Leadership Award. Compare that to traditional systems using aging technology.

Autocalibration

While conventional microphone systems may require manual adjustments each time you change a room’s configuration, with Nureva® audio you get continuous autocalibration that adjusts the system automatically. Your rooms are always ready.

Evolving platform

At Nureva, we’re always innovating. You automatically get new features and firmware updates so the system you have today keeps getting better. Compare that to many other tech products that charge for each new upgrade or model.

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Compare technologies

There are several important areas of differentiation between the leading types of microphone technology for meeting rooms. Read on to learn how traditional beamforming technology compares to Nureva’s new Microphone MistTM technology when it comes to the underlying technologies, directional vs. positional pickup, low-res vs. high-res pickup and how each handles acoustic return echo.

 

Beamforming technology

Many traditional audio conferencing systems employ beamforming technology, which picks up sound in defined beams, usually pointed at fixed positions around a meeting room table. Pickup can be adequate, as long as talkers stay clustered within the beams. However, if they move outside the beams – to present at a display or spread out within the room – they may enter a dead zone where pickup can be diminished. And if a talker moves between beams, the audio may drop off or rise sharply. Also, all the sounds in each beam – desired sounds like talking, as well as undesired sounds like typing or fans – are picked up equally, which can add up to an annoying and even fatiguing experience for remote participants.

Microphone Mist technology

Microphone Mist technology fills a room with thousands of virtual microphones or individual “pickup points.” No matter how far apart in-room meeting participants are or which direction they face, a virtual mic is always close by. There are no dead zones. And thanks to advanced processing power, Microphone Mist technology listens to each virtual microphone simultaneously and zeros in on the predominant sounds, optimizing them for clear conversations. Unlike other systems that use “post-sound” processing to handle unwanted noises, Microphone Mist technology ignores consistent noise sources from HVAC, displays or computer fans. The result is a clear and consistent audio experience that makes remote team members feel like they’re in the room.

Approaches to pickup

There are two main approaches to how microphones pick up sounds in a room: the traditional approach, aka directional pickup, and a new innovation, aka positional pickup. Let’s look at both.

Traditional directional audio pickup illustration

Traditional: directional pickup

The pickup zone of a typical beamforming microphone system is determined by the direction each mic is aimed. The automatic gain control circuit for each mic may not know how far away a talker is from the mic. It also might not distinguish speaking from other sound sources (such as typing, HVAC, etc.), so all signals – good and bad – are treated equally. A system relying on directional pickup may also require a higher level of processing to be added to the signal.

New positional audio pickup illustration

New: positional pickup

Microphone Mist technology fills a room with thousands of virtual microphones that let the system know the best sound source of each talker in the room – even when they are moving. This allows the system to use position-based gain control (PBGC) to make specific optimizations to the microphone system and processing of all the sound sources in the room. This patented proprietary technology enables us to optimize the talker’s gain while keeping ambient noise at a quieter and more consistent level for more natural conversations.

Gain control

One of the most significant factors in determining the quality of conference call audio is how a system manages the level of each talker versus background ambient sounds and electronic hiss. This is typically done by adjusting (boosting or lowering) the gain on an audio signal. There are two main approaches to gain control: automatic gain control (AGC) and a new approach, position-based gain control (PBGC).

Traditional automatic gain control illustration

Traditional

Automatic gain control

Used in most traditional audio conferencing systems, AGC keeps the audio output level within a targeted minimum-maximum range by adding more gain on quiet talkers and reducing the gain on loud talkers. But AGC on a mic treats the audio signal holistically, increasing the signal from both the talker and ambient sounds equally. It raises the talker’s level but also the ambient noise floor – not an optimal listening experience.

New position-based gain control illustration

New

Position-based gain control

Microphone Mist technology listens simultaneously to each of the thousands of virtual microphones it deploys in a room (essentially, the “positions” in PBGC). By knowing the position of each sound source, such as talkers, Microphone Mist technology adjusts the gain so the talker can be heard clearly while keeping a more consistent level of ambient noise. The result is easy-to-hear, natural sounding conversations.

Explore gain control

Handling acoustic return echo

A common issue on many conference calls is acoustic return echo, which is the effect of callers hearing their own voices in their headset or speaker delayed in time after they have spoken. This can make for a distracting and even annoying audio experience. All systems deal with this issue with some form of echo cancellation technology that is calibrated to the characteristics of the room – size and shape, types of surfaces, furniture and number and position of people. There are two main approaches to calibrating a system for echo cancellation:

Traditional manual calibration illustration

Traditional

Manual calibration

With many conventional systems (especially complex installations), dealing with acoustic return echo may require a technician to manually calibrate the echo canceller system to a room’s acoustic properties. The technician sends a calibration signal – a short tone – through the speaker system that is picked up by the microphone system. The acoustic return echo delay is measured and used to calculate echo canceller parameters for the system. The process can be intrusive and time-consuming and is not practical while a meeting room is in use (the room must be quiet), so the room is taken offline. Subsequent changes to the room may impact echo canceller performance and require recalibration.

New continuous autocalibration illustration

New

Continuous autocalibration

Nureva has solved this problem using continuous autocalibration, a proprietary process built into our Microphone Mist technology. This process measures the acoustic environment in real time for each microphone and speaker combination using a sound mask-like signal, that if perceived at all, is heard as the background ambient noise common in most commercial environments. A technician is not required, nor is the loud calibration signal of the manual process, and the room doesn’t have to be quiet. The continuous autocalibration process means that the echo canceller will automatically deliver consistent performance from the beginning of the call to the end.

Explore echo cancellation

Pickup resolution matters

You know that a higher resolution camera or display gives you a clearer picture. Having higher resolution in microphone pickup also matters.

Low-res pixelated guitar image


Traditional

Low-res

Traditional microphone technologies, such as beamforming, subdivide the room into large zones (as many zones as there are microphones). If there are, for example, three zones in a beamforming array, you get low spatial resolution information. Although the coverage zones are large, traditional systems are not able to discriminate individual sound sources within a single zone. This means diminished ability to optimize individual sound sources in a zone for the appropriate gain setting, noise filtering and overall audio signal optimization.

High-res guitar image


New

High-res

Microphone Mist technology fills a room with thousands of virtual microphones, subdividing the room into thousands of spatial bubbles for higher spatial resolution of audio signals. This allows the system to isolate and zoom in on individual talkers, giving it more audio information that in turn allows it to optimize both acoustic microphone pickup performance and post-processing of the audio signal.

Explore pickup resolution
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Active Zone Control

An extension of Microphone MistTM technology, Active Zone Control emphasizes pickup of the virtual mics in a controlled “active” zone at the front of the room while inhibiting pickup from the virtual mics in the rest of the space. Lecturers or presenters can leave lapel mics, headsets and the hassles of changing batteries behind. They can move freely in the active zone, confident that remote participants can hear them above room noises.

Active zone control - Professor speaking to a class - Partial zone illustration

Pickup zones

Use the F2 button on the Nureva® audio remote to toggle between the partial zone and full zone settings.

Active zone control - Partial zone illustration

Partial zone

Set the active zone for the required dimensions at the front of the room, and the person speaking can be heard more clearly while sounds and voices from the rest of the space are suppressed. It adds up to better audio for remote audience members and lecture capture.

Active zone control - Full zone illustration

Full zone

When it’s time for questions from the audience or group discussions, switch to the full zone setting to activate all the virtual microphones in the space so everyone in the room can be heard by the remote class or audience.

Adjusting the active zone

To adjust the dimensions of your active zone, open Nureva Console, navigate to the device settings page and open the Active Zone Control accordion. Use the drag handles or enter the length and width of your desired active zone.

Active zone control - Animated GIF

Use cases

Active Zone Control was designed for live audio and lecture capture for lectures and presentations in business or education environments. It provides excellent performance in lecture halls, classrooms, large open areas and even trade show booths.

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Intelligent sound targeting

Intelligent sound targeting (IST) identifies and stops targeting persistent undesirable sound sources like HVAC and display fans to give remote callers a better listening experience.

Intelligent sound targeting - In room audio illustration

More clarity, less noise

HVAC and other unwanted sounds can seriously affect conference call audio – ultimately causing frustration and even reducing productivity. But IST, a feature of  Microphone MistTM technology, takes a groundbreaking approach to this problem. Instead of attempting to suppress undesired sounds completely, it uses its intelligent sound identification capabilities to mitigate the negative impact of those sounds in an elegant and efficient manner. You hear voices better and unwanted noises less.

Intelligent sound targeting (IST) - More clarity, less noise illustration

Pre-processing vs. post-processing

Achieving rich, full-room audio pickup in noisy meeting spaces has always posed a significant technical challenge. Traditional systems use “post-processing” filters to suppress sounds. However, these require substantial processing resources and are not always effective. But IST takes a “pre-processing” approach. Using adaptive learning algorithms, IST pre-emptively identifies and learns unwanted sounds and then simply stops targeting them. It’s a feature other technologies can’t match.

Intelligent sound targeting - Pre and post processing illustration