01 Nov Loop drivers power multizone smart home

Based in Australia, the CEDIA Awards celebrate the many ways technology enhances the home. Sydney-based residential installation company Smart Home Solutions were recently awarded APAC region’s Best Innovative System or Solution, for their work on a residential project that required a solution to integrate hearing loop zones throughout the house. This created an assistive listening environment that enables the occupants to enjoy the audio output from the home’s music sources and TVs.

Project Outline

Called ‘The Loops’, the project required the company to develop a system of integrated hearing loops, delivering a wireless signal to the client’s hearing aids. The unique objective was to position the loops throughout the residence to integrate with each AV zone and the house music system. This would allow the audio playing in the room to be broadcast into the hearing loop system. The owner wanted to create a system that played a different audio source in each zone, allowing the occupants to walk between them and not have any overlap or ‘cross-talk’ between zones.

Product Solution

Smart Home Solutions used the house music amplifier to receive all of the home’s music sources and back-fed audio from the televisions. The ‘loop’ audio was sent to a processor as well as amplified audio to concealed speakers.

The Contacta hearing loop products used on this project were:

• HLD9 x1 and the HLD5 x4 drivers along with copper tape to create the loops
• CO-RL-TAPE12.5MM and a warning tape over the top of the cable.

Results

The DSP (digital signal processor) was processed and distributed to each of the five Contacta hearing loop zone drivers at a set volume. Volume can be adjusted locally using the owner’s hearing aid in-built volume controls.

Smart Home Solutions also added the ability to isolate and turn off the hearing loop zones from the lighting control panels and remote controls, making it easy for the client to switch off background music to better hear guests.

Conclusion

CEDIA’s judges noted that this project was the kind of assisted living solution that member firms are uniquely suited to provide.