Some recent developments in audio teleconferencing technology

The recent concern about energy resources and conservation has generated new interest in the area of teleconferencing. Audio teleconferencing has been found to satisfy most of the needs of the conferees in accomplishing various tasks. The various acoustic, hardware, and general system dimensions and their relation to the user involved in the act of audio teleconferencing are discussed in this paper. The results of the effort directed towards the determination of the acoustic characteristics of the conference room environment and assessment of the suitability to audio teleconferencing are presented. The initial attempts at the design of a portable, free‐standing audio conferencing terminal as well as the study of the interaction between the system and the participants are detailed. The need for integrated research that addresses itself to the problem in the areas of acoustic environment, quality of audio signal transmitted and reproduced, and the various means of conference augmentation is emphasized. The ...