How Noise-Cancelling Technology Can Help the Education Sector

Pre-pandemic, some of the quintessential elements during classroom learning were the melange of students’ overlapping voices enthusiastically responding to the educator all at once, with background noise adding to the cacophony. Though this noise was tagged as a ‘nuisance’, it was not very easy to create a completely soundproof, noise-cancelling environment in the physical setting.

Post pandemic world saw major disruption in the education sector with the doors of schools and colleges shutting down for a year and above and everything moving from the physical to the virtual world. From K12 to Higher education, everything started happening online, forcing non users of technology to quickly adapt to the new mode of learning and delivery of lectures. Students invested in laptops and desktops and educational institutions invested in providing teachers with various teaching aids to create a conducive and interactive learning experience for students through online sessions.

While the online learning model has become widely popular, it is not flawless. Network and connectivity issues apart, primarily, it does not guarantee the same conducive learning environment as studying from home is not devoid of distractions. For example, while an educator is taking a session online, a sound of a child crying, doorbell ringing multiple times, noise of utensils from the kitchen, family members chatting or a dog barking in the background, would make for a very embarrassing moment during the session.

Even if one is lucky to have private space to learn at home, noises from outside one’s home, such as that of traffic, construction work, kids playing outside, etc., acts as a major disruptor in the learning-teaching process. This leads to decrease in level of concentration, mental fatigue and overall impact on learning productivity. In fact, a recent CMR survey revealed that more than 30% users find audio echoes and voice clarity as the common concern impacting online sessions.

Impact on Productivity

Background noise can lead to an adverse impact on one’s productivity, irrespective of which side of the learning spectrum one stands in.

To begin with, these can cause distractions for not only the speaker but also the listeners as well, leading to important parts of a discussion getting missed that can impact the learning curve of a student. Moreover, poor call quality with overlapping voices or other disturbances can result in miscommunication of vital information, and asking for repetitions can become very annoying.

Many find the noises from one’s surroundings a cause of embarrassment especially while conducting or taking classes. Further, such issues can result in increased stress levels, mental fatigue, etc., due to the human brain trying to sort through various background noises and trying to assimilate them to understand what is being discussed, impacting not only physical wellness but also memory and learning capabilities, especially in younger students. Lastly, there is also the risk of loss of speaker credibility due to poor audio quality.

For an online class to be successful, clear online audio quality plays a vital role. If the speaker/educator cannot be heard, or they cannot hear students’ questions, vital information and the overall impact can be lost.

Is Noise-Cancelling AI the Answer for a crystal Clear Learning Experience?

All the concerns listed above are very real and can impact the teaching and learning experience in a number of negative ways. As a result, education institutions are looking for innovative, secure, and effective technology-powered solutions that offer background noise cancellation during virtual calls using existing collaboration platforms.

AI technology is being increasingly used in this space in creating voice enhancement solutions that differentiate between human voices and other background noise. These solutions work by emitting noise that is out of phase with unwelcome noise, which basically leads to two sound waves effectively cancelling each other. As a result, both become inaudible and only the human voice comes across clearly to the listeners.

Such solutions are increasingly becoming a boon in the virtual classroom environment because of numerous advantages they offer, including:

Ease and convenience: These solutions are very easy to install and use, as most of them support different web conferencing platforms to provide clear audio.

Help improve concentration level of the attendees: Majority of the children, especially pre-primary and primary schoolers are perhaps for the first time undertaking virtual classes. Ensuring that they stay mentally engaged and attentive during online sessions is a constant uphill battle for parents as well as teachers, noise pollution being a roadblock. With background noise cancellation solutions, students are able to focus better.

Crystal clear audio: With clarity in audio, both the student and the educator are able to communicate their thoughts and views in a much more productive and pleasant manner, leading to an enhanced experience for both.

Therefore…

In today’s virtual classroom environment, noise reduction AI-powered solutions offer an immersive learning experience where the participants – the students and the educators are able to interact with each other without any distractions or stress-triggering background noises. These solutions are a must for creating a better, technology-powered future of education.

(The author Dr. Rishi Mohan Bhatnagar is President at Aeris Communications and the views expressed in this article are his own)