tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post8085183548153197116..comments2024-02-28T18:29:41.120-08:00Comments on Not of General Interest: Random Bullets of MLA 2019undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05589384016564587214noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-56066847462528728712019-01-07T13:02:18.749-08:002019-01-07T13:02:18.749-08:00I agree that anyone who reads their lecture in a 2...I agree that anyone who reads their lecture in a 200-person hall should use a microphone.<br /><br />But that doesn't mean that everyone should be miked (unless recordings or broadcasts are being made).gasstationwithoutpumpshttps://gasstationwithoutpumps.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-44064760852784306732019-01-07T11:17:05.716-08:002019-01-07T11:17:05.716-08:00gasstationwithoutpumps--speaking with a microphone...gasstationwithoutpumps--speaking with a microphone has implications for access; it gained traction as an issue on Twitter and elsewhere. Yes, many people can hear--if they strain to do so--in a large room. But if there's a microphone there and someone decides not to use it out of some sense that he doesn't need it suggests that to use a microphone is in some way for weaker speakers. That's the abstract version.<br /><br />The point is that everyone can hear better if you use a microphone, if you learn to use it appropriately (i.e., not like the head-turners in your example), and it makes your words more accessible to all. How could that be a bad thing? And yet out of a sense of, I don't know, creating a false intimacy with the audience, dispensing with the mike becomes a greater thing, and you a stronger/better/more famous? speaker than those using the mike. <br /><br />I don't know why--fear of technology? Fear of being thought above your station? Insane pride in your classroom voice? Wanting everyone to come down to the front so that they can hear you? <br /><br />I've been in 200-person halls at MLA where the speaker at the front says "you can all hear me, can't you?" and then puts his/her/their head down and reads. Meanwhile those of us in the back, or with hearing losses, hear nothing but maybe a murmur. <br /><br />TL;DR. I say "use the mike. That's why it's there."undinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05589384016564587214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-10786306801426082162019-01-07T09:12:37.192-08:002019-01-07T09:12:37.192-08:00I don't understand your point "Also, I on...I don't understand your point "Also, I only heard one person try the 'you can hear me without a microphone, right?' routine, which is privilege dressed up as false modesty, and he was gently encouraged to use the mike. "<br /><br />I'm going a bit deaf, so I care about being able to hear speakers, but whether a microphone helps or hinders depends on the size of the room. In a room that has decent classroom acoustics for up to 100 people, most speakers are more understandable *without* a microphone, as they are incapable of speaking consistently into the mic, and so their volume level varies enormously as they turn their heads—I can't adjust my hearing aids as rapidly as they change their volume. In large lecture halls, most speakers need microphones, because they are incapable of adequate voice projection.gasstationwithoutpumpshttps://gasstationwithoutpumps.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com