Posted by Tricia Whenham
When you’re joining a hybrid meeting or class, seeing what’s happening in the room is almost as important as hearing it. That’s why we’re working with leading camera companies to enhance automated camera tracking and switching — using our patented Microphone Mist™ technology.
Our first integration out of the gate is with AVer, an award-winning provider of camera solutions. We’ve combined our sound location data with AVer’s PTZ Link software so the AVer camera always knows exactly who’s speaking. That — combined with our full-room microphone pickup — is a recipe for great hybrid working and learning.
To see exactly what this looks like, watch this demo video. We haven’t made any audio or video enhancements. Instead, we recorded exactly what remote participants see and hear through Microsoft® Teams, Zoom or any other UC&C platform.
How it works
The automated camera tracking you see in the video is made possible by combining sound location data from Microphone Mist technology with AVer PTZ Link software. The integration takes advantage of a new API — available through Nureva® Developer Toolkit — to accurately steer a camera to whoever is speaking. It can also switch to the camera that offers the best view.
Microphone Mist technology’s thousands of virtual microphones are used as pickup points to accurately locate sound sources. The technology’s advanced processing power also filters out undesirable sounds that make it difficult for remote participants to follow the presenter.
Thanks to the sound location device API, AVer cameras have easy access to accurate sound direction, location and level. Sound locations are reported several times per second to enable automatic camera adjustments based on the location of the talker or multiple talkers.
Why it matters
Camera tracking is an essential part of an effective hybrid space. It helps remote people feel like they’re part of a meeting or a class, not an afterthought. But it must be accurate or it risks becoming a distraction to everyone.
In hybrid meetings, it’s easy for conversation to be dominated by the people in the room — leaving remote participants unheard. Being able to better follow the conversation is one factor in getting better participation from those joining the conference call.
And camera tracking is just as essential in HyFlex and hybrid learning. Without it, remote students may tune out, unable to follow what their instructor is saying. Or the entire class may suffer when an instructor is forced to pause the lesson to adjust the camera view for remote participants.
Our integration with AVer is just the first of several upcoming integrations with other leading PTZ camera companies. Stay tuned for more demo videos to come.
Control, manage and automate
Camera tracking with Nureva and AVer is made possible by Nureva Developer Toolkit and its sound location device API. But that’s just the beginning of what the toolkit offers. Discover our full range of easy-to-use APIs and pre-built integrations.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published December 2022 and has been updated.
