Standards & Resources
About InfoComm's Performance Standards
ANSI/InfoComm 1M-2009 Audio Coverage Uniformity in Enclosed Listener Areas is InfoComm's first ANSI accepted standard and defines acceptable Sound Pressure Levels for a variety of audiovisual venues. This standard addresses the issue of how uniform the coverage should be, such that each member of the audience has the same aural experience. Because this is "real-world" criterion, it includes the ambient noise of the venue. Read more about it here.
Audio Coverage Uniformity in Enclosed Listener Areas is currently available for sale.
To read an overview of the Standard, download the one-page ACU Draft Standard Overview (PDF) now.
How does the ACU standard help you?One of the fundamental goals of sound system performance for both speech reinforcement and program audio is the delivery of consistent coverage in the listening area. A well-executed audio system design is one that allows all listeners to hear the system at approximately the same sound pressure level throughout the desired frequency spectrum range, no matter where positioned in the designated listening area. The ACU standard provides a procedure to measure this spatial coverage, and criteria for use in the design and commissioning of audio systems.
Order ANSI/INFOCOMM 1M-2009, Audio Coverage Uniformity in Enclosed Listener Areas today from the ANSI Standards store.
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Free Webinar About ACU Standard
September 23
Learn all about ANSI/INFOCOMM 1M-2009, Audio Coverage Uniformity in Enclosed Listener Areas, InfoComm’s first system performance standard approved by ANSI. Learn procedures for measuring spatial coverage and criteria for the design and commissioning of audio systems. If you attended this session in May, you need to attend this update. View the recorded webinar.
Instructor: Joe Bocchiaro III, Ph.D., AStd, CTS-D, CTS-I, ISF-C
RUs CTS: 1 CTS-D: 1 CTS-I: 1 Max: 1
InfoComm's exclusive focus in standards development is on system performance, rather than individual product or technology standards. This program will provide the industry with performance standards that AV companies can build their systems to meet, while giving the industry's customers clear industry standards on which they can rely. "ANSI recognition of InfoComm as a Standards Developer represents a dramatic step in the association's advancement of industry quality improvement programs," said InfoComm Performance Standards Committee Chair, Scott Walker, CTS®-D, LEED® AP, of Waveguide Consulting. "Standards define a profession, demonstrate a commitment to professional self-regulation, and acknowledge the profession's responsibility to the public."
InfoComm leads this activity under its Performance Standards Committee, but the standards created will benefit the whole industry and its customers. All InfoComm standards will be developed through a disciplined ANSI process to reach consensus among everyone involved with AV systems.
Performance Standards Development and Task Groups
Current topics in different stages of development are:
The Projected Image Standard describes the relationship of image contrast and brightness, with respect to the ambient light in the audiovisual venue. These are the two most important parameters of audiovisual images (after size) that have to do with how well an audience can see an image.
The Videoconferencing Lighting Standard defines where and how much light should illuminate videoconference participants, their workspace, and the displayed image, optimizing the reality of the conference experience. All of this is also visible to the cameras in the room, which have differing illumination requirements from the participants. This Standard is being jointly developed with the IESNA: The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, also an ANSI ASD.
The Design Package Components Standard outlines the various unique specifications and drawings that comprise an audiovisual design. It presents a more unified picture of the design intentions to the architectural and engineering communities working on the audiovisual-enhanced projects. These specification and drawings outlines are not intended to suppress creativity; rather, they will relate the universe of variables and possibilities to the rest of the design team on the project, and to the construction team.
The standards listed above are only the beginning of what InfoComm International membership envisions as a suite of guidelines that will raise the level of excellence for the entire industry.
Standards from Allied Industries
Although there are no specific standards from within the audiovisual industry, there are many standards from allied industries that are used to create audiovisual systems. Most of these standards define equipment-oriented issues. These include connectors, signals, sizes and shapes of devices, measurement of equipment output parameters, measurement of acoustics parameters, and other considerations. These standards make interoperability of audiovisual devices possible, which is essential for successful system integration. The most proinen standards-setting bodies include:
- AES — Audio Engineering Society
- ASA — Acoustical Society of America, in conjunction with the American Institute of Physics
- CEA — Consumer Electronics Association
- CISPR — International Special Committee on Radio Interference
- ESTA — Entertainment Services & Technology Association
- IEEE — Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
- ITU — International Telecommunications Union
- NFPA — National Fire Protection Association
- SIA — Security Industry Association
- SID — Society for Information Display
- SMPTE — Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
- TIA — Telecommunications Industries Association
- VESA — Video Electronics Standards Association
For more information about InfoComm’s Performance Standards, please email standards@infocomm.org.
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