The Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park in Oklahoma City’s booming biotech district is home to one of the nation’s premier executive conference centers. The $2 million state-of-the art facility uses ClearOne’s audio conferencing and camera products to connect local scientists with their peers across the country and around the world. And, while the Conference Center was designed to meet the highly specialized needs of the biotech community, it also benefits the corporate world, as businesses can reserve the center for their own videoconferences and other meetings.

The facility features a tiered 50-seat conference room designed to serve a variety of users with different needs. Six ClearOne XAP® 800s and a XAP 400 support 52 microphones -- one for each seat in the room and two for the presenter area— and handle all audio mixing, routing and control functions.

The conference room is used for a number of different purposes, including videoconferencing, training, presentations and large or small group meetings. As a result, the audio system has to be very flexible to accommodate the room’s multiple functions. This is accomplished using presets and macros created with the XAP programming software, which enable quick and easy changes in audio routing, mic activation, and other key audio settings to best fit how the room will be used. The XAPs also support 38 zones of mix-minus speech reinforcement through speakers that are built into custom housings located on the workspaces throughout the room. Each of the 38 zones may be individually delayed for correct alignment of local and reinforced speech signals. And, the level at which the audio in each zone is reinforced can be precisely configured to deliver optimal sound quality throughout the room.

In addition, five ClearOne cameras are strategically placed in the conference room to allow unobstructed views for video conferencing. Three cameras are located at the front of the room to focus on audience members with two more at the back of the room to focus on the presenter. All cameras are interfaced via the control system, and automatically track to the speaker's voice as camera presets are triggered when mics are activated, reducing the need for complex controls.

The result is an audio/video system that provides the highest level of quality and is extremely easy to operate. All someone using the facility needs to do is press a button on a touch-screen control panel located at the podium to select the areas of the room that will be used. The XAP products will automatically adjust the room’s audio configuration by recalling various critical parameters such as number-of-open microphones, gating controls, equalization, cross-point attenuation and signal levels.

The Conference Center was designed, specified and programmed by The Sextant Group. SPL Integrative Solutions was the system integrator.