Neat announced the first major upgrade to Neat Center, the center-of-room companion device, to deliver audio capabilities that allow more natural conversations. Additionally, Neat says it now supports third-party hearing augmentation systems in all its new-generation devices, expanding inclusivity for anyone with hearing difficulties.

Neat Center, Neat’s first center-of-room companion device, was designed to bring everyone in a meeting face-to-face so remote meeting attendees can follow the flow of conversation more easily, according to the company.  In the first major upgrade to Neat Center, Neat says it has extended its audio capabilities to intuitively track conversations and automatically shift to the nearest device, whether that is Neat Center or the front-of-room device, to deliver superior sound reception. This advanced audio intelligence developed by Neat continuously monitors and captures the nearest voice immediately, delivering a fluid conversation flow that participants can easily engage with and follow.

These new audio features include:

• Deep noise suppression – filters out distracting sounds that are not human voices such as keyboard typing or leaf blowers
• Dereverberation – filters out and reduces audio-distorting room reflections, such as those from walls, ceilings, objects and other room surfaces for better speech clarity
• Eliminating double talk issues – allows people talking at the same time to be heard clearly and understandably during lively meetings
• Hearing Augmentation for greater Inclusivity

 

In addition, Neat says it now supports third-party hearing augmentation systems on all newer Neat devices. This enables hearing-impaired users to wirelessly connect their hearing aids, headphones or neck loop transmitter and receiver to Near Bar Generation 2, Neat Bar Pro or Neat Board 50 devices for clear audio.

Neat says this capability relies on low latency between hearing augmentation systems and Neat devices’ speakers to deliver an optimal hearing experience. Neat also says it has made it easy to enable the new hearing augmentation feature in the “Accessibility” section of Neat’s system settings, so IT administrators can easily empower users to begin using their chosen system with Neat devices.