It's another day of class in lecture hall. You're sitting in the middle, where you always do, except when the guy in the backwards Menards hat sits there. Other students are still coming in, and the teacher just arrived and is poking at his podium. When he finally plugs in his laptop, a low buzz comes from the speakers and you already know you're in for a bad time. By the Third TedX video about something vaguely related to your Teacher's lecture subject, you're ready to quietly bail out of class. He seems oblivious to how loud his videos are and that the time between them is filled with feedback from the speakers. Why does this keep happening? Do teachers even know how to use their equipment?
It's understandable that most teachers are unaware of the static feedback that comes from having their laptop plugged in. They stand behind the speakers most of the time, where it's harder to get a sense of volume. On top of that, most teachers don't know about audio levels or how to set volume for a video. I'm hoping to describe it plainly with the hopes of improving my, and student's, experiences in class.
Audio feedback, specifically static feedback, is mainly caused by audio connections from the speakers to the laptop. A looser connection will give you more static and can change which speakers are playing. Along with a loose connection, having the speaker's volume up high will cause static to be much more noticeable. It's best to have your laptop's volume turned nearly all the way up, then fine tuning volume with the speaker's setting. This gives you the best audio quality in general and will reduce the amount of static coming through the equipment.
If all that seems like too much work, or pointless effort, then I can give you the simplest advice—turn off your audio. No, I don't mean play us videos on silent, I mean turn off your audio when you're not playing anything. If you're not showing a video, just mute or unplug the speakers until you show something again. Loud videos are easy enough to handle, but sitting through a lecture with a "Hisssss," growing louder as the professor reads off his PowerPoint, might not be good for your health.
I think my proposal is modest enough. Even the most apathetic teacher has to agree loud noises are annoying. Through my words of advice, I hope I can inspire a teacher to turn down the speakers. It's really not a big deal, but there have been enough teachers blasting their students to make you wonder if they were even told how to use the equipment. It's not like this information is limited to just lecture hall speakers. If you've ever wondered why you're hearing static from a speaker, it's due to the same reason.
So teachers, please, just turn down the speakers. It's really not that hard and it really makes difference in a student's day when they don't have to listen to static for an hour.
