Speakers for Emergency Alerting: Three Things Every College and University Should Consider

Kara Stamets, Content Marketing Specialist, Alertus Technologies

College and University campuses face many threats such as shootings, fires, severe weather, power outages, and intruders. They are also strapped with common challenges like aging building infrastructure and tight operating budgets. To protect students, faculty, and staff in emergency situations, institutions can invest in mass notification systems to quickly and effectively communicate life-saving information. 

Students in a large study hall can hear emergency announcements clearly over IP Speakers

Audible notification is critical for higher education institutions as it provides clear alerts to a widespread community regarding emergencies or general announcements. Audible notifications should be used to reinforce visual communications and fill coverage gaps where visual alerting methods are unavailable. 

Traditional overhead speakers and PA systems provide wide-reaching coverage but are limited to a central amplifier. IP Speakers offer more flexibility and can be zoned to send voice alerts to specific areas or select speakers across your campus. Speakers should be utilized in high-traffic areas such as:

  • Auditoriums

  • Residential facilities

  • Parking garages 

  • Libraries

  • Student unions

  • Cafeterias

  • Labs 

  • Classrooms

  • Athletic facilities  

Whether your institution is looking to install new speakers or upgrade existing ones, you should look for the following features in IP Speakers: 

  1. Ease of Installation: Retrofitting or installing dozens of new speakers in the interiors of hallways and residences is no small task, therefore look for IP speakers that provide power over ethernet (PoE) to simplify installation and provide resilient network connectivity.

  2. Fully Supervised Coverage: Conventional PA systems can be challenging to maintain. The IP speaker provides constant status and readiness updates at the unit level and is fully supervised, so any issues arising from the device’s performance are reported to facility management. 

  3. Capability to Retrofit Existing/Older Buildings: Indoor areas of older buildings, such as residence halls, can be transformed with IP Speakers, as they serve as an activation expansion point with two input and output relays to control other alerting appliances like strobes. IP Speakers seamlessly integrate with existing infrastructure, making it an affordable and modern choice.

Kara Stamets