Friday Fun: Happy Halloween!

I'm sure that if you've been on Facebook or YouTube recently, you've seen this already. But if not, check out this rockin' Halloween light show featuring LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem. Quite the impressive production.....

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween Light Show 2011 -

Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO

Photo Credit: YouTube

Larry Estrin Talks About the Importance of Frequency Coordination at AES in New York

Larry Estrin

Larry Estrin, Strategic Technology Consultant for Clear-Com, attended AES in New York last week to chair a seminar discussing the coordination and planning of license-free RF spectrum devices for events and installations. With the increase of license-free devices using the Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz spectrum flooding the industry, there is a need for some frequency coordination to avoid interference with all of these devices. This panel discussed how coordination and spectrum management technologies can allow all devices to work without interfering with each other within current and future spectrum usage.

Back in August, Broadcast Engineering published an article written by Larry on this very same topic. In it, he talks about how the term license-free is often misperceived to mean that interference is impossible. The reality is that frequency coordination is needed to allow the maximum use of as many devices as possible without interfering with each other.

Human Element is Key:

Not only do you have production equipment on a single frequency, add in the tens of thousands of handheld devices (ie smartphones, etc.) of the spectators and you have no control over interference issues. The constant "chatter" these devices create raise the noise floor of the spectrum significantly. If you take these issues into consideration and communicate the potential issues and workarounds with all technicians, event vendors, participants, venue administration and IT departments ahead of time, you can assure that the proper equipment will be appropriately managed for optimum spectrum coordination.

Bottom line: Frequency coordination is the most effective way to protect yourself from interference.

Who hears better?

Photo Credit: dogs.icanhascheezburger.com

Do women or men hear better?

When men and women are born, their hearing abilities are the same. However, a study from John Hopkins University shows that men are five and a half times more likely to experience hearing loss starting from the age of 20. The reason for this is because more men work in loud environments.

How do men and women listen differently?

When listening, men only use their left side of the brain whereas women use both sides, but with an emphasis on the left. The left side of the brain is associated with listening and speech, but the right side is related to performing music and spatial relationships.

Which ethnicity hears better?

A study with the federal National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reveals that African Americans hear better than Caucasians. Those scientists believe that their large amounts of melanin protect them from noise-induced hearing loss since melanin plays a role in removing harmful chemical compounds in the inner ear.

Sources:

ABC News
MedScape
Times Daily