Surveillance sound-check

Prisons and correctional facilities have an increasing need to monitor specific areas and to be able to respond quickly and remotely should an incident occur. Adding networked speakers to an existing surveillance solution is becoming easier and more cost-effective to gather additional information. When part of a complete surveillance solution, audio gives guards a more effective way to intervene during an incident.
Consider the following example when audio is brought to the mix: Cameras or perimeter detection devices detect a breach and a notification is instantly sent to the assigned people. This notification triggers a pre-recorded message or is sent to an alarm monitoring guard who assesses the situation and quickly gains an overview before responding by speaking through a microphone from the control room. The guard talks directly with the people at the scene, which could de-escalate the situation.
Having a guard speak to someone in the field of vision via a speaker can make a great difference in the outcome of potentially hostile situation. Speakers in a network video surveillance solution can be used to communicate remotely. For instance, if a person in a camera’s field of view demonstrates suspicious behavior, a remote security guard can send a verbal warning before dispatching additional guards. In a situation where a person has been injured, being able to remotely communicate with the victim can also be beneficial. Whether in a prison/correctional facility or perimeter protection for critical infrastructure, making video surveillance proactive with audio can be important to the success of monitored video.

Make audio even easier with networked speakers
Most video management software supports audio, either by allowing the operator to speak directly by pressing a button in the video view or triggering pre-recorded clips based off of different triggers. This native integration makes it easy to add audio to a network video surveillance system. Many network cameras come equipped with on-board audio. Enabling audio functionality to a network video surveillance system can be done easily by adding a network speaker. These provide a simple-to-install, complete paging solution in a single unit. With Power over Ethernet (POE) the unit gets power and connection with a single network cable—just like a camera—avoiding the need for an external power supply or additional equipment.
In the network audio system every speaker is individually accessible. This ensures great flexibility and scalability. Additionally, integration with other systems becomes effortless with IP. Network speakers can be integrated directly into the video management software or into a standard voice over IP (VoIP) phone system using SIP.

Next up: Intelligent network technology
Intelligent speakers also allow for smart functionality. With IP-based speakers, you can manage the connection and status of each individual speaker. A built-in microphone and analytics makes it easy to automatically supervise the sound quality. It can also be used to listen to the scene of the incident or for intelligent detection of aggression, gun shots, vandalism, etc.
The potential applications of networked speakers goes far beyond video surveillance. Intelligent network technology is making its way into connected devices, similar to what happened with video surveillance. The majority of school paging systems are already IP-based, and we can expect a similar transition within industries that install audio, especially in prisons and correctional facilities.
If prisons and correctional facilities haven’t incorporated an audio component yet, then they’re really only getting half of the story. The guards need to be able to see and hear it first-hand.