Better Hearing in the House
[F-ORTY-ONE new "speakers" were installed in the House of Representatives for this session. For a few minutes, in fact, there was a fortysecond, the one shown below. Norman Johnston, of NZBS Head Office Engineering Section, brought it with him when he took The Listener to the House one morning recently to explain the sound reinforcement system which now. helps Members and Hansard and Press reporters to follow debates more easily. When the session began a few weeks ago Members found that a small loud speaker, like the one on this page (about 414 in. by 3% in. by 2 in.) had been mounted behind each seat in the cross benches. Similar speakers, but of different design, were on the Hansard reporters’ tables and in the Press
Gallery. The NZBS, which installed thé speakers, notified the Clerk of the House that the job was completed on the first day of the second hundred years of New Zealand’s Parliament. Mr. Johnston explained that the speakers "were part of a sound reinforcing system similar to the one used in the House of Commons, Fed at a very low volume with sound picked up by the 18 broadcasting microphones
above the Floor of the House, they should be clearly audible if the listener’s ear was not more than 12 to 18 inches away. Members could switch off their own speakers, and so that they were not*distracted by the sound of their own yoices coming from the speakers, these were switched off automatically from the NZBS control room in the House when microphones near by were being used. Speakers on the Hansard tables were also silenced if a near-by microphone was in use. Like all the radio installations in the House, the new speakers have been made as unobtrusive as possible. Mr. Johnston said that for the technicians the wiring was a rather difficult task as ‘it was fed through from _beneath the wooden staging at the rear part of the Chamber. The system can
be extended to the rest of the House if this. is later thought desirable. While installing the sound reinforcement system the NZBS took the opportunity to overhaul and improve ‘the broadcasting equipment in the House. New equipment installed. includes a_ high-pass filter which, without affecting the quality of broadcast speech, cuts out all low-fre-quency rumble from ventilation fans, and building noises,
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 782, 16 July 1954, Page 19
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396Better Hearing in the House New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 782, 16 July 1954, Page 19
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